The Secret Language of Cats by Susanne Schotz

Author:Susanne Schotz
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781488099618
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Published: 2018-08-29T14:31:24+00:00

Vowel chart with phonetic characters for all vowels (vowels observed in cat sounds have circled borders).

Although I have been observing cats for a long time, I still cannot say with certainty whether they can protrude and round their lips, as we humans do when we go from saying u [ʌ] in strut (spread lips) to saying o [ɔ] in thought (rounded lips). They should be able to do so. All mammal infants do it instinctively when they nurse, and the w in meow is a rounded semivowel according to the phonetic descriptions and can be produced with rounded protruding lips. Until now, however, I have not recorded any cat who clearly and visibly protrudes and rounds their lips. Cats can, however, produce vowels with both a more open (for instance when producing the sound [a]) or a more closed mouth (when producing the sounds [i] or [u]). I assume that most of the vowel sounds I have observed in cats are produced without rounding the lips. It also seems likely that cats may produce sounds with neutral—neither rounded nor spread—lips, such as [ə] (like the a in comma) or [ɐ] (like the o in lot).

Consonants

My research is based on the assumption that cats can produce consonant sounds similar to the sounds made by humans. I have summarized all of these consonants using a phonetic system. Occasionally, I have had to make compromises, such as with the trill, similar to an r, that occurs in purring and trilling. It is unlikely that this is a rolled r as it would be articulated by humans. Instead, it is probably produced farther back in the mouth. Even so, I have transcribed this sound as [r˜ ] in phonetic script, because it is brighter than the growling sounds transcribed with [ʀ˜ ].

There are much larger differences between different consonants than between different vowels, and therefore we phoneticians tend to subdivide them into different consonant categories. I have observed the following phonetic consonant categories in cat sounds.

Stops are produced by first completely blocking the vocal tract so that no air can escape from the lungs, causing a slight pressure difference to be built up behind the closure, and then by quickly opening the closure, causing the released airflow to make an audible sound (a short burst). I have identified the stops [t], [c], [k], [ɡ] and [ʔ] in cat sounds like chatters, chirps and spits.

Fricatives are characterised by a turbulent airflow causing frication noise. They are produced by forcing air through a narrow constriction made by two articulators close together, e.g. the upper teeth against the lower lip as in [f]. [f], [ʃ], [ʂ], [ç], [ɧ] and [h] are among the fricative sounds that I have observed in cat sounds like hisses and spits.

Approximants are consonants produced by two articulators approaching each other closer than with vowels, but without causing any turbulent airflow. Some approximants are so similar to vowels that they are sometimes called semivowels. I have observed the approximants [w], [j], and [ɥ] in meow-like sounds, and [ɹ] in trills.

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