How many words does a cat "understand" ?

I'm not sure if I've seen cats learn actual words, but I haven't had many cats either. There is definitely communication through tone and visual signals though. Every night I wait for Jasper at the living room door, say "come on" and he (usually) follows me up the other end of the house. If he is up on a bench or somewhere he shouldn't be, he very quickly jumps off if I say "get down", "off" etc but I think that's tone and saying words sharply. I think we probably communicate in ways that I'm not even really aware of, like making room for him on my lap in response to a look or gesture from him. My favourite at the moment is when he jumps up on the table, then he beckons me over and gets all smoochy. I'm just hoping he will learn what "No, I don't want to sniff your butt" means

my-boy-jasper said:

I'm just hoping he will learn what "No, I don't want to sniff your butt" means

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funny!!

Cats don't use language proper--not the way humans do. They don't have any idea of grammar (for example, why "I pet you" is different from "You pet me"--the word order). They don't communicate about things that aren't immediately present or relevant ("I'm going to chase a mouse tomorrow"). However, they can draw associations between human mouth-noises and concepts or things. A cat may understand "Breakfast" or "Toy". My cat Tiny understands the command, "Come on up!" which is permission for him to get on my bed and snuggle with me, and the command "Knock it down!", which is an invitation to play a game where he knocks an object I am holding out of my hand, and the phrase, "I'm going to get you!" which is an invitation to play a chase game. He doesn't mix them up and knows what each one means.

The difference between people language and cat language is this:
--For a human word, anything can be used to stand for anything. I could call my apple a "Pilf" and if everybody understood what "Pilf" meant, it would work just as well as "Apple". Cats, on the other hand, use the same movements and postures to communicate the same things. If a cat's tail is twitching, that means the cat is tense for one reason or another. A cat can't arbitrarily decide that, instead, it will bush out its whiskers to signal tension.
--We pass words from human to human. If I explain to you that the foundation row for my crocheted blanket is made of "chain stitch", you can add that to your vocabulary and use the term "chain stitch" to explain the same concept to someone else, even if you have never done crochet yourself. It doesn't work that way for cats. They can communicate cat-to-cat, but any cat that isn't present can't get the information.
--We combine different words in different ways to connect different meanings. My cat Tiny understands "Knock it down!" and "Come on up!" but he does not understand "Come down!" even though both words are in commands he knows. He uses the phrases as single units, rather than breaking them into words.

So for a cat, a word is more of a signal than a symbol. They can learn quite a few words; I would bet the smarter ones learn fifty or so words and phrases easily. But they are not natural language-users, like humans are, so you will be giving them a vocabulary of signals, rather than true words. Some dogs have been shown to learn something like a hundred separate signals, and be able to combine them into simple commands with accuracy greater than chance, but cats are not as trainable or eager to please as dogs, so they are more likely to try to figure something out on their own than to try to figure out what the human wants of them.

Some animals do use language, to an extent: Dolphins, elephants, apes, and some birds which live in groups. In those animals we can see simplified versions of human language, including the ability to talk about language itself, to use words in new combinations, and to teach words to others. The chimpanzee Washoe and the parrot Alex are especially interesting examples, if you want to research them. It's quite fascinating.

Wonderful explanation! I am familiar with both Washoe and Alex, and you are right, they are fascinating. Yes, cats get most of the clues from our tone and volume.

Well mine definitely know their names, NO! (and I swear they say it back sometimes), and down. 

They also understand the snap and point. I'm sure this is actually a legit training move, but it's something my husband and I started doing. When they are somewhere we don't want them to be or if we want them to go somewhere we can usually say their name in combination with a snap and a point to the direction or location we want them to go. Often, if we are on the phone, we can easily just snap and point and they will do as commanded without hearing their name. 

Yes, I think Cats are smart. The more time you take to communicate with them, the more they understand. I noticed a while back that Angel knew quite a few words/names, so I wrote them all down,

and I think it was around 20! Anywhere from the neighbor's cat's name, who he knew, to words like ;

Din,din,

hungry?

breakfast,

play,

"get it"

birdie,

ball,

mousy,

brush,

treat,

kiss

night, night

mommy

grandma

up

no

go potty (I swear, if he hasn't gone sense the morning, & it's almost bed time, I will say" time to  go potty, or pee,pee", & usually w/in 5-10 Min's. he does!) (after 3 rounds of cystitis last yr!)

Angel

Boo Boo

Sheba

out

bye,bye

crunch, crunch (in attempt to get him to chew, or at least bite his treats, & not just swallow them! When he does I say good boy, so he gets it.)

I may be predigest, but I think my sweet boy is pretty smart! 

When I say can food and start the can opener Bella & Thunder come running. They are very smart.Bella is now 3 1/2 and Thunder is just over 1.

Larry definitely knows "hungry", "supper", "cuddle" and "brush". His actions after hearing these words are totally appropriate to the words. I say "hungry" or "supper" and he'll run to his bowl. If I say "brush", he'll roll over and wait for me to brush him.

nanner said:

Larry definitely knows "hungry", "supper", "cuddle" and "brush". His actions after hearing these words are totally appropriate to the words. I say "hungry" or "supper" and he'll run to his bowl. If I say "brush", he'll roll over and wait for me to brush him.

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When we get the brush out Thunder rolls over too. 

Mine know their names and simple commands,

1.get down
2. come here
3. they come when I whistle
4. no
5. Are you hungry? And they swarm me. This could be a learned response though.
6. Get it
7. I have one cat who headbops me in the face when I tell her I love her.

My daughter (10 yrs) & I are dual owners of our cat Ticky, a female ginger cat. she's an adult already.  When we say ''come" she comes", when we tap our leg or lap, she knows to jump up & sit by us, when we say "no" she knows to stop except when she plays and it's too rough, if we say ao, she knows she's hurting us and immediately starts licking the "wound".  When we want to give her soft (wet)food & we put a few flavours packets in front of her, she "chooses" one by sniffing all of them but rubbing her chin on the flavour she wants, this is proven by her favourite flavour which is lamb, if Lamb is in the selection, she will always choose it. another spectacular thing about her is that, when she purrs, she drools a damfull.  

Oh, I'm loving all these great stories.  Each of our babies are so unique and special, aren't they?  

Absolutely!!

My cats definitely understand specific words and gestures.  They know their names - if both are in the room, they will look to me when their own name is spoken, so it's not just my tone.

'up up up' --  was possibly first thing they learned as kittens, meaning 'upstairs to bed'.

Cat food, treat, fish, or chicken--  will bring them running.

'Wait' usually stops begging for food.

'Good boy' and any other flattering remarks or endearments gets a 'happy tail' from Milo and coquettish look from Ziggy.

'Where's your mousie' (or ball) will start a game of fetch if they're in the mood.

Milo responds to 'scratching board' (ie. he scratches it) even without a visual prompt, although he may equate that with 'treat'.

He does not respond to "Please teach Ziggy to use the scratching board."  

Or maybe it's just Ziggy who doesn't respond to that one.

Ticky said:

 
My daughter (10 yrs) & I are dual owners of our cat Ticky, a female ginger cat. she's an adult already.  When we say ''come" she comes", when we tap our leg or lap, she knows to jump up & sit by us, when we say "no" she knows to stop except when she plays and it's too rough, if we say ao, she knows she's hurting us and immediately starts licking the "wound".  When we want to give her soft (wet)food & we put a few flavours packets in front of her, she "chooses" one by sniffing all of them but rubbing her chin on the flavour she wants, this is proven by her favourite flavour which is lamb, if Lamb is in the selection, she will always choose it. another spectacular thing about her is that, when she purrs, she drools a damfull.  

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Welcome to TCS. I know you joined two months ago, but I missed that post. Please post some pictures of Ticky on the Fur Pictures board. We love pictures of cats. And yes, I agree each one of our cats is unique and special.