Can Cats Talk?

Mother cats:

• MEE-OW - come and get it!
• meOW - follow me!
• ME R-R-R-ROW - take cover!
• mer ROW! - No! or Stop It!
• mreeeep (burbled) - hello greeting to kittens and disarming greeting to adult cats (also used between adult cats and humans)

There is more to felinese that the simple miaow though. In 1944, Mildred Moelk made a detailed study of cat vocabulary and found sixteen meaningful sounds, which included consonants and vowels. She divided cat-sounds into three groups:-

• murmurs made with the mouth closed
• vowel sounds made with the mouth closing as in "iao"
• sounds made with the mouth held open.

Although these may not be used in grammatical sentences, one definition of language is "any means, vocal or other, of expressing or communicating feeling or thought" (Webster's Dictionary). Observant owners will notice the following sounds which cats make to communicate their state of mind (this list is not exhaustive, since cats will improvise):

• Caterwaul - cat wants sex!
• Chatter - excitement, frustration e.g. when prey is out of reach or escapes
• Chirrup - friendly greeting sound, a cross between a meow and a purr!
• Cough-bark - alarm signal (rare in pet cats)
• Growl - threat, challenge, warns others to go away
• Hiss (with or without spit) - threat, fear, warns others to back off
• Meow - general-purpose attention seeking sound used by adult cats to communicate with owners or with kittens
• Mew (of kittens) - distress, hunger, cold (to attract mother's attention)
• Purr - contentment, relaxation, also to comfort itself if in pain (cats in extremis may purr); a loud purr invites close contact or attention
• Scream - fear, pain, anger, distress
• Squawk - surprise, shock
• Yowl - a threat, offensive or defensive, but also used in a modified form by some cats seeking attention when owner is out of sight
• Idiosyncratic sounds - a sound which a particular cat uses in a particular context.

The exact meanings of all of these sounds may be modified or emphasized by facial expression, tone/volume, body language and context (paralanguage). In his dealings with Scottish Wildcats, Mike Tomkies noted that the wildcats would greet him with a loud spitting "PAAAH" accompanied by a foot-stamp. I have received the same greeting from feral cats. The meaning ("*** off!") is unmistakable and only a fool (or a cat-worker intent on packing pussy off for neutering) ignores it. Some cats may use some of these cat-sounds in different ways when communicating with humans and only our familiarity with our own pets tells us that a certain type of growl is a play noise and not warning of imminent attack.