Re: Cat phonemes

Hissing may be /h/ phonemically, but it's surely realized as [x:] or
[X:] or [C:] or something like that. [h] is far too tame (and not very
hissy).


On 11/27/07, Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...> wrote:
> This thread caused me to analyse the speech of my house-friend a
> little, an 8 kg male - very handsome and cuddly, but you wouldn't
> want to meet him in a dark alley.
>
> I found that he has the famous 4 cat phonemes, /m/, /i/, /a/ and /u/,
> and in addition he uses an /e/ quite a bit, and the /u/ and the /m/
> can open up to /o/ and /w/ respectively, but I suspect these are only
> allophones. So far I haven't heard any /N/, but maybe cats have
> dialects, and/or large variations in their vocal organs.
>
> I think the purr may be phonemic too. At least it seems he means
> something entirely different when he says it with a purr than when he
> says the same thing without it.
>
> However he does not rely on speech very much. Rather he prefers
> telepathy, based on his experience that "daddy always knows what I
> need." Unfortunately, his daddy isn't very susceptible to that kind
> of communication.
>
> Technically I think the purr is similar to the vibrantness that can
> be heard in many people's voices.
>
> LEF
>

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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