Every month, videos appear online where cats “talk” like humans. “Oh no,” exclaims the pet during a bath, “Norma,” pleads the cat, asking its owner to stop. But is it really so?
Unfortunately, in most cases, cats' “speech” seems rather forced. Despite our desire for our furry friends to communicate with us, they are more likely just making loud sounds...
However, there are studies that claim cats are capable of mimicking human sounds. For example, Susanna Schötz, a linguist at Lund University in Sweden, notes that cats can imitate human voices, but this is more related to intonation than to clarity of pronunciation.
“Cats are able to adjust to the melodic features of their owners' voices in order to establish contact, begging for food or attracting attention,” explains Schötz. This ability may be explained by evolution and is related to another characteristic of cats.
You may have noticed that cats sometimes start chirping when they see birds. Research shows that this happens because cats adapt to their prey to reduce their wariness. If animals can mimic the sounds of their prey, why wouldn’t they do the same with humans?
As for clarity of pronunciation, it’s quite simple. Even if we assume that an animal can memorize a sound and associate it with a meaning, it would not be able to pronounce a word, as cats lack the same vocal cords and mouth shape as we do.
Nevertheless, studies show that cats are capable of learning and successfully imitating their owners' behavior. Experiments have demonstrated that cats can copy their owners' actions in controlled scientific conditions. This indicates that our furry companions are able to observe us and learn.
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