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Dogs understand both vocabulary and intonation of human speech
Science Daily ^ | 8/29/2016 | American Association for the Advancement of Science

Posted on 08/30/2016 5:17:09 PM PDT by JimSEA

Dogs have the ability to distinguish vocabulary words and the intonation of human speech through brain regions similar to those that humans use, a new study reports.

Attila Andics et al. note that vocabulary learning "does not appear to be a uniquely human capacity that follows from the emergence of language, but rather a more ancient function that can be exploited to link arbitrary sound sequences to meanings."

Words are the basic building blocks of human languages, but they are hardly ever found in nonhuman vocal communications. Intonation is another way that information is conveyed through speech, where, for example, praises tend to be conveyed with higher and more varying pitch. Humans understand speech through both vocabulary and intonation.

Here, Andics and colleagues explored whether dogs also depend on both mechanisms. Dogs were exposed to recordings of their trainers' voices as the trainers spoke to them using multiple combinations of vocabulary and intonation, in both praising and neutral ways.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: dogs; intelligence; speech
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Your experience is the same as mine. Like people, some are smarter. Intonation and words both give information.


41 posted on 08/30/2016 6:14:45 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA

42 posted on 08/30/2016 6:16:29 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Awgie

Scary thought. Islam is thoroughly perverse and anti human. Our ancestors thousands of years ago negotiated an understanding with canines and it has worked out well.


43 posted on 08/30/2016 6:19:57 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: IronJack

Different dogs have different vocabularies. I had a black lab that had about 20 words which he clearly understood. Those words he could understand regardless of how you said them. He even learned that G.O. and W.A.L.K. meant that I was about to go or walk. Anything else was all about intonation.

My current mutt can pick out about 3-4 words. She is dumb but sweet.


44 posted on 08/30/2016 6:20:10 PM PDT by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
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To: Sarah Barracuda

Daylight savings irritates my dog no end. Supper time is important and not to be messed with.


45 posted on 08/30/2016 6:21:57 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: JoeProBono

Dogs certainly do have a good sense of humor.


46 posted on 08/30/2016 6:23:59 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: Sarah Barracuda

The food thing is a Pomeranian trait. Mine goes to the kitchen at noon and 5:00 waiting for someone to come and eat. If we go out to diner, he gets pissed and will start eating his food about 7:00 when he realizes we aren’t eating at home. It was my wife who taught him to beg and I still have a hard tie forgiving her for that.


47 posted on 08/30/2016 6:30:49 PM PDT by Woodman
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To: dfwgator

Best Far Side ever... but... My labradoodle absolutely understands:

Dog-food
cat
go
walk

and standard sit, down, stay.


48 posted on 08/30/2016 6:31:32 PM PDT by Rio (Proud resident of the State of Jefferson)
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To: JimSEA

My cat understands me very well. He just chooses to ignore me.


49 posted on 08/30/2016 6:46:42 PM PDT by dgbrown
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To: JimSEA

Talking Dogs,really ?

Hey Pooch,

How about the Lotto Numbers ?

Who’s a good Dog? Yeah!


50 posted on 08/30/2016 6:50:31 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: Big Red Badger

Talking and understanding are two different things with people, a much larger number manage the first but relatively few master the second.


51 posted on 08/30/2016 6:55:57 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: Woodman

Ours has tummy issues so for us when Nemo begs for food we are always thrilled, means he feels good :-) Ours also suffers with the collapsed trachea which I guess is common in Poms(or so I have heard) when he gets super excited he makes the goose sound which is not fun to hear but he gets so super excited sometimes he breathes like a maniac so I just pet him til he calms down


52 posted on 08/30/2016 7:29:21 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: eastforker

Sure he does. And he helps you balance your checkbook and work out complex calculus problems too.

When he’s not dry humping your leg or drinking out of the toilet bowl.


53 posted on 08/30/2016 8:15:34 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: Nachum

Same with our German Shepard.......we leaned it was safer to spell it out.


54 posted on 08/30/2016 8:18:36 PM PDT by QT3.14 (USA facing assisted-suicide by the Left)
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To: JimSEA

Used to have a little yorkie. No matter how I said ‘bath’, he would growl and bare his teeth. Hated baths.


55 posted on 08/30/2016 9:02:48 PM PDT by patriot08 (Post 5th generation Texan-(girl type) ANGRY? REFUSE TO VOTE? HELLO HILLARY!!!)
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To: soycd

I think cats understand even more than dogs do.

Which might be why they don’t care what we think.


56 posted on 08/30/2016 9:58:44 PM PDT by TigersEye (~Putin made me post this!~)
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To: patriot08

A black Lab is the only dog we’ve had that looked forward to and enjoyed her bath. Of course, immediately afterward, she’d run out into the yard and roll. Sigh.


57 posted on 08/30/2016 10:53:35 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: Sarah Barracuda

My pure Pom has the Trachea problem and I thought we were going to have him put down recently because he was having so much difficulty breathing. He’s 14 and it really started to get much worse in this hot and humid weather. He was panting and honking like a goose for almost 2 days, but we got it under control with medicine. Hopefully he’ll make it a while longer.


58 posted on 08/31/2016 2:13:52 AM PDT by Woodman
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To: blueunicorn6

“My dogs can sleep. They are like world champion sleepers.”

My dog wasn’t allowed to sleep. My wife is type A and forced the dog to be productive. I suggested we teach him to tend bar. My wife said now I was being silly.


59 posted on 08/31/2016 6:02:13 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (It appears as if Trump is our Yeltsin.)
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To: JimSEA

Yeah. LOL.


60 posted on 08/31/2016 8:10:40 AM PDT by patriot08 (Post 5th generation Texan-(girl type) ANGRY? REFUSE TO VOTE? HELLO HILLARY!!!)
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