Humans can communicate various instructions to dogs without using actual words – simply by modulating the tone of their voice, a new study from ELTE University’s Department of Ethology shows. By repeating the nonsense syllable ‘bü’ in different intonations, humans successfully signaled ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Here’, and ‘There’ and, remarkably, dogs responded correctly, despite receiving no prior training. The findings reveal ancient acoustic codes, interpretable across species, that predate language itself. The study was published in Cognition, and a video abstract presenting it is also available.
