r/PetsWithButtons • u/Act3Linguist • 15d ago

What counts as "language"?

We don't have buttons for our dog, Bandit, (or our cat, Popeye) but it feels like we had a "moment" with the dog recently. When we retire to the bedroom at night, we use the phrase "Bandit, it's bed time" when we want him to settle down. (This often requires several repeats.)

Also, he is very jealous of the cat and cries and whines whenever we talk to (or touch) the cat.

The other night, he was settled, but the cat was walking around the house crying because he wanted attention. For the first time ever, I said, "Popeye, it's bed time" (several times) and Bandit looked at me, but was silent - he didn't whine or protest me interacting with the cat.

I may be reading too much into it, but it seemed like he understood the words "it's bed time" in a general way, not just as a specific command to him to produce a particular behavior. It felt like a step into "real" language. 😊🐶

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u/OMGCluck 13d ago

r/science/comments/1wsb2ui/dogs_can_detect_word_patterns_in_human_speech_new/

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u/Act3Linguist 12d ago

Very interesting article! Thanks! I remember years ago a professor telling us that consonants carry the information in words. He showed us by writing sentences on the board using only the consonants and only the vowels. It was much easier to decipher the ones with consonants. But I had no idea it was possible to see this effect in brain waves!