Melody matters: An acoustic study of domestic cat meows in six contexts and four mental states

• This study investigates domestic cat vocalisations in different contexts and mental states. Measures of fundamental frequency (f0) and duration as well as f0 contours of 780 meows from 40 cats were analysed. We found significant effects of recording context and of mental state on f0 and duration. Additionally, contours in positive (affiliative) contexts and mental states were predominantly rising, while those produced in negative contexts and mental states were predominantly falling. Our results suggest that cats use paralinguistic information and biological codes to signal mental state.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Zoologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Zoology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

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