--- title: Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent? description: A new study aims to find out canonical: https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-30T15:52:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:19:46.176Z article:section: Science og:title: Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent? og:description: A new study aims to find out og:url: https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f893da4cd7b177/69888d032dce019a2e9e8699/gettyimages-186334017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3867 og:image:height: 2175 og:image:alt: cat-sleep og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent? twitter:description: A new study aims to find out twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f893da4cd7b177/69888d032dce019a2e9e8699/gettyimages-186334017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent? by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Mar 30, 2016 3:52 PM UTC  A cat sleeping A cat sleepingGetty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Mar 30, 2016 3:52 PM UTC A group of Swedish scientists wants to figure out [whether cats in different parts of the country have varying meows](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/30/cat-got-your-tongue-scientists-pets-adopt-owners-accent). The researchers are studying [cats](http://time.com/4264948/cat-personality-test/) and their owners in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, as well as in Lund, which is 300 miles (483 km) south and has a different dialect. The [cats](http://time.com/money/4204427/humor-helps-productivity/) will hear differently accented humans from behind a screen door, and the scientists will study how the cats’ responses differ based on the accents. “Maybe certain breeds will use certain melodies, or cats living in countries where human speech has certain melodic patterns will vocalize differently,” researcher Susanne Schötz told _The Guardian_. “If we can find that cats adopt these melodies, we may be able to help cat owners interpret these signals better.” The group will also study how cats respond differently when humans talk to them in a singsong voice, as if talking to a baby, compared to a normal voice used to converse with adults. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/"},"headline":"Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent?","datePublished":"2016-03-30T15:52:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:19:46.176Z","description":"A new study aims to find out","url":"https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/","keywords":["animals","cats","study","sweden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f893da4cd7b177/69888d032dce019a2e9e8699/gettyimages-186334017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f893da4cd7b177/69888d032dce019a2e9e8699/gettyimages-186334017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"cat-sleep","caption":"cat-sleep","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4276436/cats-accent-meow/","name":"Do Cats Pick Up Your Accent?"}}]}] ```