[eucyclos]

I have a theory that song used to communicate emotional states precedes and probably evolved into language as we think of it.

[cenamus]

Whales also communicate by "song". But at that point it's just their language, whether you classify it as song (pleasant for a human to listen to?) or language doesn't really change that it's used for communication

[konfusinomicon]

I like to think that bird song, evolved over millions of years going back to their dinosaur ancestors, is a language that encodes vast amounts of information that our brains can't even begin to understand the complexities of

[nucleardog]

I'd easily believe that bird songs are vastly more complex and interesting than we currently understand!

If you haven't seen it, you might enjoy Benn Jordan's video of "saving" a PNG to a bird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCQCP-5g5bo

(Besides the hook-y title, some interesting info on the acoustics of bird songs with some cross-over into tech.)

[eucyclos]

The old story of the 'language of the birds' suggests that we can make headway. No one's ever complained of time they wasted listening to birdsong.