The Secret Language Of Cats. Susanne Schötz
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people cannot properly interpret the sounds their cats make. However, anyone who listens a little bit more carefully when cats “speak” to us will quickly understand that they are able to produce a great number of different sounds, and that it is not very hard at all to learn to interpret the different sounds. An example: although our cat Kompis prefers to spend his time in the garden, he likes to sleep in the house, especially when it is cold out. His favorite place is a big blanket-covered stool in front of the radiator in the hall. He often sleeps for hours, but when he wakes up and wants to go out we know right away because he uses sounds that lie in the range of frequencies to which we humans are especially receptive. “Meeaahh,” he says, in a very high-pitched and bright (with acoustically high resonances) voice. Even if we are upstairs, and very far away, we can still hear him. We also know that Kompis has a much deeper voice when he tries to scare off an intruding cat in the garden. On those occasions it sounds more like a low-pitched moouuoouu. How does he know that we understand him better when he uses his bright and high-pitched voice? Why does he change his voice when he interacts with other cats? Can cats learn how to best communicate with different species (and individuals)? Behavioral scientists and biologists have already learned a lot about how cats communicate. Can we phoneticians contribute anything to the understanding of feline communication? The differences between human speech and animal sounds are well-known. Discovering the similarities and building bridges for better understanding is especially interesting for me as a linguist.
But first let us talk about the differences between the language of humans and the language of cats. So as to clarify the difference between them I first will discuss how cats communicate in general terms, and then turn to a detailed description of the range of cat sounds.
CODES OF COMMUNICATION IN HUMANS AND ANIMALS
We humans prefer verbal, that is to say spoken, communication. Although one often hears talk of the “language” of bees, apes, dolphins or whales, a great number of researchers have recognized that their communication cannot really be described as language. Many scientific investigations have confirmed that the vocal (acoustic) codes of all other species are not only simpler, they are also more limited compared to human speech. It is unlikely that future research will discover an animal species whose means of communicating deviates from this pattern. In addition, human language is open, meaning we can add a limitless number of new words with new meanings. Animals, in contrast, communicate about a very limited number of topics. They can discuss “here” and “now,” but usually not “yesterday,” “next week,” “over there” or “in Sweden.”
When apes, cats or other animals communicate with sounds, a single sound usually corresponds to a single “word” with a specific message within certain contexts or situations (one that the hearer often interprets as a meaning). The words of human speech, in contrast, are composed of multiple small parts, like the consonants and vowels (phonemes), that contribute to the overall meaning. We can change the meaning by changing one of these parts, such as with cat and bat or house and mouse.
Animal sounds depend on their context, and though they may be meaningful, they do not consist of smaller parts that themselves can change the meaning of the sound, such as the consonants and vowels of human speech. If a cat first says “mew” and then says “meow,” the two sounds do not necessarily mean different things. A communication code with thousands of different meaningful sounds needs, among other things, a very complex apparatus such as the human voice box with which to produce those sounds—something that simply does not exist in the animal kingdom. Or does it? The most recent research suggests that many animal species do have a kind of “languageness” that is not exactly like human language, but which is not necessarily simpler or less successful as a communicative code.
HOW DO CATS COMMUNICATE?
Cats and humans have lived together for more than ten thousand years. We domesticated them. But they probably domesticated us, too. They taught us how we should best behave around them (do not approach too quickly, do not handle too roughly, do not speak too loudly). We made it clear to them that we were happy to have them around, that we like to feed them and pet them, that they can expect warmth and protection from us, as long as they are just a little friendly to us and occasionally catch a mouse or two, so that our grain stores are not emptied by rodents.
Although many cats are solitary animals who rarely seek the company of other cats, cats can live together in friendly groups. Additionally, most domesticated cats seem to like living with humans. In this sense, they are social creatures who communicate in a variety of different ways with each other as well as with us humans: through scent (olfactory), with body postures and movements (visual), through touching (tactile) and with sounds (acoustic).
Humans, unfortunately, are not hound dogs; we are not especially sensitive to scent or the pheromones that cats can detect so easily. Moreover, our eyes are often occupied by watching our smartphones, computers, books, newspapers, magazines, televisions and so forth, so we might not notice that Kitty has been sitting next to her empty food bowl waiting for breakfast for more than half an hour. Perhaps that is why cats and humans have developed a kind of acoustic language that both species are able to understand. Cats have understood that sometimes, the best and quickest way to get what they want from us is to communicate with sounds, a meow, for example. They know that we will react immediately and we mostly know what our cats want from us: for us to give them food, open a door, retrieve a favorite toy mouse from under the sofa or just spend half an hour of our time petting, cuddling or playing with them.
Touch: Tactile Communication
Our cats know very well that the best way to communicate with their humans is with sound. Even so, they have maintained other forms of communication. Nosetouching, head-bumping, and rubbing against us, head to head, head to body, or body to body, and kneading our laps with their paws (we call the rhythmic stepping of a kitten against the teats of its mother and of a grown cat against a soft surface such as a blanket kneading, kneading dough, or making biscuits). Sometimes they will also show us they have had enough with either their claws or a bite. All of these are examples of tactile communication. Touch is very important, not only between mother cats and their kittens, but also between cats belonging to the same social group. It is possible that cats want to use touch to show us that they accept us humans as their friends as well.
Cats that have befriended each other like to lie close to one another when they rest or sleep. Moreover, they may groom each other. Head- or cheek-rubbing with another cat, a dog or a human is often also a form of greeting. This tactile communication consists of friendly, affiliative gestures and serves to reinforce social cohesion.
Body Postures and Movement: Visual Communication
We should pay far more attention to the visual signals of our friends. Postures and movements, either of the entire body or of individual body parts, such as the tail, head, face, and above all, ears, eyes, and whiskers, provide clear indications as to the momentary mood or needs of the cat. In aggressive or defensive situations, the increase in the volume of the body by arching the back and raising the hair (usually referred to as piloerection) mostly means that the cat feels threatened and is meant to signal “I am big, and I have muscle and sharp teeth which I will use, unless…” However, it might often just be a bluff. That is why cats, before they attack, often assume an upright posture (often with an arched back), bristle their fur and sometimes open their mouths, so that they seem as big and scary as possible. This is how they defend themselves from any potential attackers.
On the other hand, when Vimsan crouches flat rather than standing or sitting in an upright posture whenever Donna passes by her, this usually means something very different: she is signaling that she is very small and harmless and does not want to provoke a fight under any circumstances. Cats frequently communicate with subtle visual signs, for example, through their head, ear and eye postures and movements. There are also less subtle signals, like moving the body and the tail, as well as raising their fur, but these symbols also subside quickly. By no means do they last as long as a scent marking, for example.