Prosodic matching beyond humans: On the interactional basis of “cat-directed” talk

This conversation analytic study investigates a Finnish-speaking caretaker interacting with a cat and her two kittens while she records them on video. The study shows that when talking to the cats, the human prosodically matches their meows, chirps, trills, and purrs by approximating their pitch, duration, voice quality, loudness, and rhythm. Matching occurs with directives, questions, and response tokens ( m-hm ), as well as with imitative interjections ( miu ). Through different combinations of prosodic and lexical imitation, the human makes her talk responsive to the cats’ local conduct, and displays understanding and sharing of their ongoing activities and/or affective stances. The study sheds light on how prosodic features associated with so-called animal-directed talk emerge in the interspecies interactions in instances of matching. • A human prosodically matches vocalizations by an adult cat and kittens. • Matching involves overall pitch and pitch contours (incl. octave-shifting), rhythm, duration, intensity, and voice quality. • Matching occurs with “normal” talk as well as with imitative lexis, and intertwines with sequentiality and embodiment. • By matching and imitating the cats' vocalizations, the human engages with their ongoing activities and/or affective stances. • Features associated with “animal-directed talk” result from matching as an interactional practice.