Cat owners have long suspected that their feline companions understand human speech. While videos abound of cats appearing to speak, scientists suggest that cats imitate sounds rather than understand their meaning. Research reveals that cats respond subtly to their owners’ voices, indicating an ability to recognize and respond to familiar sounds.

Your cat talks, right? We are not talking about Meow or Meo, but real words, stressing the right syllable with exceptional pronunciation. Yes, it’s true. From “Mommy” to “Hello,” there may have been many occasions when your cat vocalized either English or your respective language, and you jumped for joy like you had won the Nobel Prize!
It’s also likely that you would have shared this with your friends, who aren’t. pet parentswell, they had no idea what you were saying and called you a crazy cat lady or man! Their loss!

And don’t worry, you’re not alone. It’s one of those things that only pet parents would understand. There are a multitude of videos on the Internet where cats speak. Here’s a compilation of some of the cutest videos on the internet featuring cats speaking in English. From “I Love You” to “What,” these videos are proof that they speak the “Hooman” language. Maybe your friends would believe you after all.

Do cats talk?

You may find hundreds of theories on the Internet saying that “cats are mean”, “they understand you, but they don’t care to respond”, “dogs have owners, cats have servants”. No matter what anyone says, you will never know the love and warmth that a cat brings, until you have one!
Cats communicate with each other and with us. Unlike dogs, studying cats is challenging, which is part of the reason humans understand them less. Cats are often stressed in the laboratory and therefore meaningful behavioral observations are almost impossible. Additionally, making a cat stay still during an MRI to examine brain function is out of the question.

Charlotte de Mouzon, author of the study and cat behavior An expert from Paris Nanterre University visited the cats’ homes and played different types of speech and different speakers. However, Mouzon and his team were concerned that the cats might not respond at all. Speaking to The New York Times earlier, Mouzon said the cats’ reactions were “very subtle.” This could be as simple as moving an ear or turning your head towards the speaker or even freezing what the speaker is doing.

Do cats speak the “Hooman” language?

Although there are millions of videos on the Internet in which cats vocalize English words, science says otherwise. Speaking to Junkee, Susanne Schötz, a linguistics researcher at Lund University in Sweden, said that while cats imitate human voices, it’s more about sound than diction. According to her, cats can imitate the nuances of their owners’ voices, such as melodies, in order to communicate better. They cannot learn words but can imitate them.

(Photo courtesy: Pexels)