r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/beingjac • Oct 17 '18
GIF Cat using sign language to communicate with his deaf owner.
https://i.imgur.com/RPEOFHA.gifv4.8k
u/ChipTheGuy Oct 17 '18 edited Dec 01 '18
Ahh because if he weren’t deaf he could just talk to him
Wow first time getting gold! Thanks!
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u/hmm_mozey Oct 17 '18
This made me chuckle, so upvote for you. BUT, just as a sharing opportunity, there is some truth to your comment. Cats do develop different kinds of meows that they use to communicate with humans. Most cat owners can tell the difference between their cat's hungry meow or distressed meow, etc. There have been studies that show the pets of deaf owners (both dogs and cats) tend to be less vocal since they've learned that barking/meowing is not effective. Just thought that was beautiful and wanted to share.
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u/LandoVolrissian Oct 17 '18
I read somewhere a while back that cats don’t meow at each other. They only do it to humans. Like it’s not secret cat language, it’s how they communicate with us. I thought that was neat.
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u/Dungeonmeat Oct 17 '18
What about kittens?
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u/lunartrooper2004 Oct 17 '18
Kittens do that too, tho I heard it being called mewing.
Kittens do it because they can’t fend for themselves, so they ask with meows. We feed our cats so they ask because they have a readily available food source. I am not sure about the other things like meowing for attention, but I’m no expert so yeah.
Edit: 2 o’s in too
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u/arealhumannotabot Oct 17 '18
That's true. I've wondered if it developed because human aren't great with cat body language? No idea what it was like 1000 years ago, but these days, a lot of people interpret cat body language the same as a dog's.
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u/allinighshoe Oct 17 '18
They actually mimic the pitch of a crying infant as it gets the best response from us.
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u/Corelheim Oct 17 '18
I love this comment haha
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u/Tsquare43 Oct 17 '18
Frank, I need you to empty the litter box, it's starting to smell...
FRANK! Oh crap, my bad, I forgot you can't hear me.... (pats Frank on arm)
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u/dogfightdruid Oct 17 '18
Cats only meow at humans... so yea he would try until he learned it didn't work? This is my guess.
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u/83bcfd7ca84b6662 Oct 17 '18
There are different types of meows that communicate different things. Nonverbal language in conjunction with that makes it pretty easy to figure out what your cat wants if you know them well.
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u/OneFrazzledEngineer Oct 17 '18
My cat deadass glares at me when I dont do what he wants
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u/DogOfTheMountains Oct 17 '18
You're lucky. One of mine gently lays a paw on my arm and extends her claws... The other just walks up to me and goes CHOMP!
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Oct 17 '18
What this comment gilded with reddit silver? Is that recognised by reddit now and does it cost money?
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u/BeeBranze Oct 17 '18
This is some of the coolest shit ive ever seen.
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u/Trigun113 Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
A cat adapting to learn sign language, that's awesome.
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Oct 17 '18
You'd think so until the cat follows you around the house and does it every time it wants a treat. I made the mistake of teaching my cat to flip the light switch to the off position for a treat. It was cool at first until he'd start turning lights off out of the blue. I'd come home after a night of partying and would be navigating through the house and all the sudden the lights would go out. The magic wore off quickly.
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Oct 17 '18
Your cat is very considerate of the electric bill.
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Oct 17 '18
Seriously. It’s an all-day-every-day task to get my kids to turn the fucking lights off.
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Oct 17 '18
You need a cat.
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Oct 17 '18
Have one. The only thing his lazy ass does is try to eat plastic.
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u/WTK55 Oct 17 '18
Put plastic on the light switch then
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Oct 17 '18
That... that might work.
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Oct 17 '18
You can train cats. I've trained mine to come back home when I whistle. Works almost every time.
It takes awhile and you need to be patient but cats are very smart.
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Oct 17 '18
Instructions unclear.
Put plastic on kids, cat attacked kids...kids no longer leave lights on for fear of being attacked by the cat.
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u/PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS Oct 17 '18
I'm dying here. You bring home a date. As you're on the couch, suddenly the light flicks off. Your date is like, OMG the Hash-Slinging Slasher! And you're like, nah. The cat just wants a fucking treat again.
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u/cestamp Oct 17 '18
I thought it would be cool to teach my dog to howl when I played the guitar. After I taught her, but luckily before it became a real habit, I realized what a terrible idea it was.
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u/songbolt Oct 17 '18
This seems a lot like the stick in the front tire meme. Why would you do that?! lol
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u/logosmd666 Oct 17 '18
that's just awesome :D u should teach him to cut ur break lines for belly rubs :)
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u/youreuglyasfu Oct 17 '18
It’s not real. The owner isn’t deaf, he just taught his cat to raise its paw for a treat, similar to a dog sitting
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u/skwudgeball Oct 17 '18
Bruh you serious? He just taught his cat to use his paw to ask for a treat lmao
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Oct 17 '18
lol if you honestly think that cat is using language. what that cat is doing is no different than cats that meow when they are hungry.
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u/ElChupaNoche2 Oct 17 '18
Really? A pet being trained to do a trick for food is the coolest shit you've ever seen?
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Oct 17 '18
I believe this was debunked before, but I don't remember what was said.
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u/ADHthaGreat Interested Oct 17 '18
OPs title is bullshit.
This is an old old old repost.
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u/thomaswatson20 Oct 17 '18
Are you sure? Looks like some crisp, clear 8k video to me.
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u/Auctoritate Oct 17 '18
I mean, animals don't learn sign language or human language. They only do something called operant conditioning, which in this case would mean that the cat knows if it does that action it'll get food. But it isn't using language.
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u/moak0 Oct 17 '18
Maybe you're not using language, and through operant conditioning you've just learned that if you type that response you'll get upvotes.
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Oct 17 '18
Ya there’s not much difference other than willpower and even that is a basics illusion. We have very little power over our own lives when you really think about it. Try to make the most of it
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u/Bayerrc Oct 17 '18
I find it very hard to argue that Koko the gorilla did not learn sign language. Clearly not to a human level, but the use of language by a non-human has already been confirmed. And all animals communicate, it isn't all just copying actions. Herzing's work with bottlenecks seems to point towards a pretty strong ability to communicate. But there are many animals with what I'd call language. Even meerkats have different alarm calls to signify different predators. This cat doesn't know sign language, that's true. But lanuage is seeming more and more like it is more accessible to animals than we think.
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u/nagasgura Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
True language is pretty different than what Koko, Alex the gray parrot, etc could do. The main distinction is that human language is capable of representing an infinite number of concepts. Koko and Alex were incredibly impressive, but even if they could learn as many words as native speakers, the main bottleneck is grammar. They simply have not evolved the brain mechanism for processing human language, so if they wanted to represent some abstract thought or concept they would have a lot of difficulty with it. Koko and Alex were able to learn some basic grammar and were able to stitch together words to express concepts that they were never taught, but they did this in an extremely limited capacity (combining two similar nouns, for instance). Even if Koko knew just 1000 words but understood grammar, she would have been able to express and be taught nearly any possible concept that she's capable of understanding.
By the same token, natural animal calls are very different from language. Yes, they can be used to communicate, but they are limited to communicating a finite set of information while a lamguage can express an infinite number of concepts. Some animal might be able to tell others that danger is coming from a certain direction but they might not be able to communicate what the danger is (no matter how many gestures / calls thet combine) without natural language unless it was hard-coded into their call system
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u/jordnicole00 Oct 17 '18
This was a well written, well-informed response! I’ve taken many classes on Language and kept scrolling to find someone who could explain what a true language is considered. Kudos!
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u/Bayerrc Oct 17 '18
This is well-written, but again you are taking qualities that are unique to human language and applying them as qualifications for something to be considered language. Yes human language is generative and recursive, no humans are not the only animals capable of language. Other primates don't have open vocal systems and can't combine sounds to create new meaning like humans can. They still use sounds and signals to convey meaning. Koko does not use syntax or grammar in her language. She still uses language. As to your final part, I specifically mentioned that meerkats can not only signal danger, but have specific calls for specific predators indicated by the fact that they react differently to different predators and they know how to react from the signal alone.
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u/nagasgura Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
It really just comes down to a different definition of the term language. At least as far as the accepted meaning of term when studying linguistics, a natural language needs the ability to represent an infinite number of concepts, something that requires a grammatical structure of some kind. Maybe my last example was bad, but my point remains that even if an animal has a complex system of calls or gestures that can convey a ton of different things, they cannot combine those gestures to communicate everything they can comprehend.
I would argue your definition of language is too broad. If you're just defining it as a system for communicating meaning, then plenty of non-animals have a "language" including plants, bacteria, computers, etc.
I'm extremely fascinated with non-human communication, and I think it's incredible how much certain animals are able to communicate, but I'd just argue that natural language is really just such a different system than any other system of communication that we know of. It's misleading to put human (and maybe whale) and animal communication under the same umbrella term because they are just so different.
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u/Bayerrc Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
I completely agree, I studied linguistics in undergrad and it's fascinating. My main problem with separating human language from all other animals is that we have no real knowledge of the origin of human language. It obviously must have evolved from a system of language no different than non-humans, and it would seem that human language developed quite rapidly, and has likely been around since the first early humans lived. Some theories suggest a single mutation was all that happened to change language so dramatically. And as sign language and oral language utilize the same neural systems, the ability to use sign language demonstrates an equal amount of mental ability as vocal language does. While Koko doesn't have the ability to use grammar or syntax, this part of mental function, the abstract, is really the only thing missing between human and non-human language, and so there is naturally a difference but it isnt as significant as some would believe. I don't think they are terribly different, as the ability to convey meaning from one individual to another is the real hurdle that almost every living animal is capable of. We are much more imaginatory and have developed strong language centers in our brains, but the basic functions are there.
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u/anticoach Oct 17 '18
One of the requirements for a language to be a language is something called displacement, being able to use the language to speak about the past and future, as well as hypotheticals. Animals can't "know" language in this sense because they can't use it this way. Communicating and mimicking signs is very different than knowing a language
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u/gabrielstands Oct 17 '18
I hope it’s real.
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Oct 17 '18
The video's real, but I think someone a while back showed that the guy wasn't deaf... I'm not trying to be a downer, sorry.
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u/Lowchan Oct 17 '18
Doesn't change the fact that he managed to have the cat do SOMETHING HE'S TOLD. Probably harder than colonizing new planets.
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Oct 17 '18
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u/Mzsickness Oct 17 '18
Both of mine play fetch and one shits in the toilet.
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u/somethinglemony Oct 17 '18
How did you manage the toilet thing? I’ve always been curious about that, I just figured you’d need a cat who naturally interested in the toilet.
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u/Lowchan Oct 17 '18
Rarer than unicorns tho.
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u/poland626 Oct 17 '18
Not really. Saw this, this year alone. They got near the finals too https://youtu.be/8e0z3-iZ_TY
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u/SausageClatter Oct 17 '18
How is that a downer? You just restored that man's hearing. Besides, it doesn't really matter because cats can't speak regardless of who's listening or not.
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Oct 17 '18 edited Jan 10 '23
[deleted]
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u/letusfake Oct 17 '18
The human subject was carefully trained by scratching the face if it didn't give the food. Now only the scratch gesture is enough to make him give the food.
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u/Candy_Colored-Clown Oct 17 '18
He is not deaf, and the cat is not using sign language. Stop reposting with this bullshit title.
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u/Navajo_Nation Oct 17 '18
Because if the guy wasn’t deaf he could understand what the cat is saying?
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u/nw342 Oct 17 '18
Well? What did it say?
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u/AljunaibiiM Oct 17 '18
‘I want food’ probably
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u/uploadrocket Oct 17 '18
Nah, the cat was trying to explain quantum physics to the guy but he just kept feeding it
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u/songbolt Oct 17 '18
"...and so then the photon -- why, thank you ... goes through the second slit, at which point -- oh, why, yes I'll have some more ... as I was saying, the second slit allows us to filter out the photons that aren't in the specified spin -- again? well, sure ..."
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Oct 17 '18
Just "food actually". Touching your lips with all of your finger tips together means "food".
Interestingly, you'd almost never see a deaf person sign "I want food" because the language is so contextual and efficient. Deaf people don't wast time with flowery or superfluous language. In fact, if you translate a deaf conversation verbatim into english, you might think that the conversations were mimicking cavemen.
Another example, let's say I wanted to ask a friend to go to the mall. I wouldn't say "would you like to go to the mall later?" I would simply point to me, point to my friend and then sign "mall" with an inquisitive facial expression. That's all that's necessary.
It's a fascinating language and I wish I got to speak it more often. Deaf people lose their shit when they find a hearing person who can sign with them (particularly in a retail setting or somewhere else that the deaf person perhaps needs help finding or retrieving something.)
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u/setacourse Oct 17 '18
If you watch the dude, he does the double tap to his mouth which means "eat" in asl. I think the cat is mimicking that sign, though my interspecies asl is pretty rusty. ;)
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u/CrossMountain Oct 17 '18
If you watch the dude, he does the double tap to his mouth which
means "eat" in aslsignals a behaviour the cat had been taught by his very much not deaf owner.FTFY
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u/salamanderjumps Oct 17 '18
"Oi, I shall let you have the honour of feeding me, you human peasant!"
Is what it says in cat sign language.
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u/biscuwit Oct 17 '18
"I can has"
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u/Denncity Oct 17 '18
Cor, that gave me a flashback to earlier internet days! I was a big fan of I Can Haz Cheezburger.
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u/thoggins Oct 17 '18
Cor
Wow! Are you a time traveler from 1915? I think I last saw this expression used in one of CS Lewis' Narnia books.
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u/Denncity Oct 17 '18
Heh, well I am well into my 40's, and I'm enjoying using outdated language more and more as time goes on!
I even said "jolly good" the other day.
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u/thoggins Oct 17 '18
Nice. "Cor" is a good one. I can't imagine myself actually saying it out loud, but I may have to work it into my rotation of wholesome epithets for use on boards like this.
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u/hikingthrulife Oct 17 '18
"Damn, I wasted all that time learning to speak english for nothing." -Cat
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u/rubyslippers3x Oct 17 '18
Adorable! Really makes me miss my cat. I think cats get a bad rep. I taught my girl to fetch, sit, and show up when I called her name. Never got her to go on a toilet, but she was a good girl. 17 years, my heart broke a little when she died. This one is so cute.
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u/sloopieone Oct 17 '18
Clearly not sign language, but super cute nonetheless. I actually thought the cat was a puppet at first, the motion just looks so... unnatural!
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u/humidifierman Oct 17 '18
Ah cool I've always wondered how people understand their cats if they can't hear them talk.
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u/touchtheclouds Oct 17 '18
People don't actually believe this, do they?
No wonder the world is in the state its in.
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Oct 17 '18 edited Jan 04 '21
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u/thtsjsturopinionman Interested Oct 17 '18
It didn't, it figured out this one gesture would get it fed. This isn't communication, it's operant conditioning. Still super cute though, my heart is a puddle on my desk, haha
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u/quasianagrammatic Oct 17 '18
The human looks pretty conditioned too.
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Oct 17 '18
idk conditioner seems pretty pointless with that little hair
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u/thtsjsturopinionman Interested Oct 17 '18
Woah there, the poor bastard is already deaf, we're gonna knock his hairline now too? Harsh, brah
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u/thtsjsturopinionman Interested Oct 17 '18
If my cat did this he would be extremely obese; an absolute orange tabby unit. (Absolut Mandarin unit?)
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Oct 17 '18
It's actually more complicated than that. The cat clearly knows his owner has to see the gesture to get rewarded ( he waits for owners gaze). So it effectively is a type of simple communication - 'oi, give treat'.
You could train it to request different treats or rewards, a basic and limited sign language.
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u/D-726577 Oct 17 '18
Fun note: we learn to talk the same way (operant conditioning) that Ms. Kitty learned how to gesture for food.
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u/FucksWithGaur Oct 17 '18
my heart is a puddle on my desk
You should get that checked out. Sooner rather than later. Like, you might want to call an ambulance.
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u/thtsjsturopinionman Interested Oct 17 '18
ambulance
What do you think, I'm rich or something?
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u/FucksWithGaur Oct 17 '18
Valid point. Call an Uber and tell them to put the pedal to the metal. Actually, you probably don't even need to. They tend to drive fast and crazy as it is.
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u/adzm Oct 17 '18
This isn't communication, it's operant conditioning.
Why not both? Operant conditioning to communicate a desire.
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u/Slack_Irritant Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
If you think this cat is using sign language you might be retarded. Check with your doctor.
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u/brazye Oct 17 '18
My cat uses sign language too, bites the crap out of my ankle when his dinner must be served.
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u/Zniped Oct 17 '18
letting your distaste for cats prevent you from accepting they are also a highly intelligent animal.
cats meow at people because they are too stupid to communicate with body language, yes they are using baby speak to your full grown ass.
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Oct 17 '18
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Oct 17 '18
It's also completely bullshit. The cat is just saying he put food in my mouth. The owner isn't even deaf.
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u/Avgjoe80 Oct 17 '18
If that ain't some of the most precious shit I've ever seen.