[Vision2020] Caturday (March 12, 2016)

[Moscow Cares]

A new study hopes to reveal if cats 'speak' with different meows based on where they live. Still no cure for Caturday.


Courtesy of the Daily Mail (London, England) at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3485975/Does-cat-ACCENT-Study-hopes-reveal-felines-speak-different-meows-depending-live.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

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Does your cat have an ACCENT? Study hopes to reveal if felines 'speak' with different meows based on where they live

Lund University phonetics experts will study the intonation of cats' meows
Research will investigate how cats vary the melody of meows, or dialects
It will also look effects of humans altering their voices when talking to cats
Five-year study could bring about welfare changes in shelters, for instance


From wolves to dolphins, numerous species of animals are thought to have 'accents' when they communicate.
Now scientists are hoping to find out whether domestic cats have regional meows - and whether feline dialects are determined by their owners' voice.
They will investigate how cats vary the melody, or intonation, of their meow when 'talking' to other felines and humans. Ultimately they hope to produce a 'dictionary' of cat sounds.
'It seems cats can consciously vary their intonation or melody constantly, perhaps to convey a certain message, perhaps to alter or increase the urgency of a message, or emotions,' said Susanne Schötz, reader in phonetics at Lund University and leader of the project.
'We want to find out to what extent domestic cats are influenced by the language and dialect that humans use to speak to them, because it seems that cats use slightly different dialects in the sounds they produce'.
'In this project we will use phonetic analysis to compare cat sounds from two dialect areas in Sweden - Stockholm in the central part of Sweden, and Lund in the very south of Sweden.'
'We will compare the melodies of these vocalisations to see if cats speak different dialects.'
The project, which the scientists have named melody in human-cat communication, or 'meowsic' for short, will be carried out over the next five years.
The team will focus on intonation, voice and speaking style in human speech addressed to cats, as well as in cat vocalisations addressed to humans to work out how the two communicate. 
While this may seem fanciful, the results may have implications for how people treat cats in animal hospitals, care homes and shelters to put them at ease
Since their domestication about 10,000 years ago, cats have learned to communicate with humans using visual as well as vocal signals. 
Some breeds, such as Siamese and Birman cats, appear to be more talkative than many other breeds, indicating that breed may also be a factor in the way a cat 'talks'.
Wild and feral cats usually have no need to continue meowing after becoming adults when their mother pushes them away, but many domestic cats continue meowing as a way to communicate with or gain attention from humans.
However, many aspects of the cat's vocal repertoire are not well understood.
We know that cats vary the melody of their sounds extensively, but we do not know how to interpret this variation,' Dr Schötz said.
'We will record vocalisations of about 30 to 50 cats in different situations, for example when they want access to desired locations, when they are content, friendly, happy, hungry, annoyed or even angry - and try to identify any differences in their phonetic patterns.'
While the project has yet to officially begin, the researchers last month tested their recording equipment and techniques by recording examples of 'cat melodies'.
In one, they noticed meows rise slowly in pitch when a cat is begging for food, while the pitch drops gradually when a cat is unhappy when visiting a vet, for example.
Another goal is to study whether cats react differently to various aspects of human speech, such as different voices, speaking styles, and intonation patterns.
For example, we want to know if cats prefer pet–directed speech or prefer to be spoken to like human adults,' Dr Schötz said.
Pet-directed speech tends to be a high pitched speech that some adults use for children, for example.
'We still have much to learn about how cats perceive human speech.'
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Scientists have set out to see whether cats have regional meows – and whether feline dialects are determined by their owners' voices too. A Stock image of a woman talking to her cat is shown.

http://www.moscowcares.com/Caturday/Caturday_031216_01.jpg

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'It seems that cats can consciously vary their intonation or melody constantly, perhaps to convey a certain message, perhaps to alter or increase the urgency of a message, or emotions,' said Susanne Schötz.

http://www.moscowcares.com/Caturday/Caturday_031216_02.jpg

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These card meow in melody with one another at the vet.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3485975/Does-cat-ACCENT-Study-hopes-reveal-felines-speak-different-meows-depending-live.html#v-302603203933551900

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Understand what your cat is saying.  New research investigates.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3485975/Does-cat-ACCENT-Study-hopes-reveal-felines-speak-different-meows-depending-live.html#v-5714917709706445867

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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