# Can animals have accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325 "2007-03-24T15:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/1 "2007-03-24T15:33:22Z")
Can animals have accents like humans do? If so, which animals are known to have accents? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/2 "2007-03-24T15:38:25Z")
[Cows](http://www.lep.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1718230&SectionID=5514). ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/3 "2007-03-24T15:44:32Z")
Also [birds](http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060320/birdaccent.html?source=rss). I am not sure if the difference in the way a Siamese cat, a tabby cat, and a Maine Coon vocalize is counted as an accent or not, but to my ears they sound like one. It’s more to do with breed than location with cats though, but I am not sure if there are certain “regional” quirks that all cats have to their meows that they don’t in other places or not. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/4 "2007-03-24T15:57:10Z")
Birds can—and do have different “accents.” I don’t have any cites, but I remember a study in England that found birds of one species living in X had a slightly different call from the same species living in Y. You’d hear both songs and even as lay people you could readily detect the differences. If I remember correctly, the researches found several examples of this phenomenon. I love people who study birds and plant life. Once upon a time my wife and I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and while we paused we noticed a few people on hands and knees peering closely and running their hands through the greenery at hand, while very quietly talking to each other. “Oh, are you Botanists?” I asked (delightedly, although they didn’t sense it). One of them, a woman, looked up and replied, semi-embarrassedly, “Yes. Does it show?” Well of course it did but in the most pleasing and inspiring way, which was the gist of my reply. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/5 "2007-03-24T16:11:19Z")
It is very common for birds to have what are known as “dialects” in different parts of their range. Sometimes these differences are innate, and sometimes they are learned due to the individuals in the same area copying calls from their neighbors. In the latter case these differences could well be compared to accents. When innate differences are too extreme they may be evidence that the two populations in question are in fact different species. If birds don’t recognize or respond to the calls of the other population, they would not be likely to interbreed, and hence would constitute different species. Humpback whales, and I believe orcas, also show local and regional differences in their vocalizations. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/6 "2007-03-24T16:15:41Z")
What did the French cow say to the American cow? Le moo! ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/7 "2007-03-24T16:52:27Z")
I loved the new item the other day about how nuthatches understand chickadee. Let me find it… . Ah, here: [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319175725.htm](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319175725.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/8 "2007-03-24T17:41:52Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] I loved the new item the other day about how nuthatches understand chickadee. Let me find it.. . Ah, here: [Eavesdropping Nuthatches Appear To Understand Chickadees In Distress | ScienceDaily](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319175725.htm) [/QUOTE] Le thanks, capybara! For presenting that very interesting article about chickadees and nuthatches. Both species come to our feeders, and I really love the chickadees. They’re so bold! I can be loading up the feeders and those little imps call out, “Move it, man, I’m hungry!” ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/9 "2007-03-24T20:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] [Cows](http://www.lep.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1718230&SectionID=5514). [/QUOTE] The cow accent thing was [repeatedly](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003493.html) [de](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003494.html)-[bunked](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003507.html) by the linguists at [Language Log](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/). They [weren’t too impressed](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003509.html) with the bird story either. Judging by the number of linguistics-related stories they debunk there, it seems to be a universal truth that stories about linguistics are misreporting research at best, entirely false at worst. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/10 "2007-03-24T20:40:19Z")
[QUOTE=carterba] They [weren’t too impressed](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003509.html) with the bird story either. [/QUOTE] Regardless of the situation in Scottish Crossbills, which is the only case that link addresses, it is well established that many species of birds, as well as other types of animals, show regional dialects. > [@](#): > > Judging by the number of linguistics-related stories they debunk there, it seems to be a universal truth that stories about linguistics are misreporting research at best, entirely false at worst. Whatever they might know about linguistics, their discussion there does not impress me that they know what they are talking about with regard to biology. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/11 "2007-03-24T21:08:24Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Regardless of the situation in Scottish Crossbills, which is the only case that link addresses, it is well established that many species of birds, as well as other types of animals, show regional dialects. [/QUOTE] They don’t dispute that birds display “dialects”: > [@Language Log](#): > > the well-known fact (it really is a fact) that many species of birds learn aspects of their songs, and sometimes thereby develop local song “dialects” They’re disputing the reporting of the story and the logic that different dialects implies different species. I kind of misrepresented it in my post above; that was careless of me. > [@Colibri](#): > > Whatever they might know about linguistics, their discussion there does not impress me that they know what they are talking about with regard to biology. I’m neither a linguist nor a biologist. What biological facts in it are wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-have-accents/397325/12 "2007-03-24T21:42:56Z")
[QUOTE=carterba] I kind of misrepresented it in my post above; that was careless of me. [/quote] That’s mostly what I was addressing. You seemed to be implying that they thought the general idea was wrong. I was trying to clarify that. > [@](#): > > I’m neither a linguist nor a biologist. What biological facts in it are wrong? Near the end of the article they say this: > [@](#): > > The position exemplified by the RSPB work seems to be that more-or-less reproductively isolated populations, with behavior that is somewhat differentiated from nearby groups, and average differences in some morphological characteristics (even if the distributions overlap a great deal), are separate species. In fact, these kinds of differences \*could \* qualify populations as different species, depending on the degree of isolation and the kinds of differences. Actually, they are correct in that the evidence that Scottish Crossbills are a true species is rather tenuous. I guess I should cut them some slack in that it’s a web page, rather than a full critique; but then again, what they are criticizing is the RSPB’s own website, rather than a scientific paper.