An interesting, yet strange article in the Telegraph yesterday claiming that scientists in Spain and Britain have found that the body language of dolphins 
follows similar patterns to that of human verbal communication. To me the link seems a tad tenuous, but I guess that could be due to the reporting. Their theory is very simply that the most commonly used words in human languages tend to be the shortest–like “the” and “but”. This is called the law of brevity and applies to all human languages. The story claims that although dolphins have a reasonably complicated language of clicks and whistles, their most common vocabulary is expressed with body language when swimming in a group, such as tail slaps, leaps, and twirls (and we thought they did that to amuse us).
If I am reading it right, the ‘proof’ comes from the fact that the 30 or so patterns of behaviour exhibited by the dolphins had a much higher probability to be exhibited in small clusters, or individually, rather than in groups or complex clusters. This, obviously (according to the scientists) must have a correlation with the most common human language usage and be on a par with the simplest of our conjunctions and indefinite articles.
I for one cannot see from the article alone why the body language of dolphins cannot be linked to the body language of other animals. All animals have body language of some description and most of it is in short bursts in response to a stimulus, and not in complex arrangements. After all, it is a pretty instinctive response (I am yet to see “learn body language now” appear in our schools, and yet we all do it) and is often hard to control. After all, do we not smile when we are happy or scowl when angry? Do we not blush when embarrassed? Do we not raise our hands when we want to get served at the bar?
I am not saying that dolphins are not smart, I certainly know they are. I also know they communicate via a language that seems on a par with humans for its complexity. I am just unsure of why dolphins perceived body language of slapping, jumping, and diving would be linked to humans most common words and not our own wealth of universally understood body language.
After all, how much of a pain in the ass would it be to have to slap your leg every time you wanted to say the word “the”, or jump in the air every time the word “but” cropped up. I am sure you would be pretty tired with a damn sore leg within no time.
But sometimes – even with our own ‘sophisticated ‘ human languages - actions speak louder than words, and I am sure a smile is just as common as the word “the” in most people’s vocabulary.
But then again, I guess if a dolphin’s most used phrase is “how about getting down and dirty in the next rock crevice?” then it would be worth the odd slap of the tail, and a spot of dorsal pain.
