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Cow dialectology?!
Not likely if you ask LanguageLog and linguists. But scientific facts cannot stop some PR people and BBC journalists. Check out how and why the false idea that cows speak/moo in dialects has made the news all around the globe. Here's my favorite "news bit" cited by LanguageLog.
--I think this cow is from Buenos Aires. --You are mistaken; although it walks rapidly as if it were late for work, its moo is typical of cows from Santa Fe.[Zviezdana]Don't worry, this dialog is fictitious, but according to the most recent theories of language specialists, this conversation could easily be real, because cows, just like humans, seem to have regional accents.
February 25, 2008
