Piggy Vocabulary

[Trace_n_Ripley]

(I thought there was a thread about this a while back but I cannot find it so I'm starting a new one)

We just found out tonight that our girls know the word "pancakes."

My boyfriend often makes pancakes for dinner (he makes great ones but I'm never around for breakfast) so this evening he called from the kitchen "You want a pancake?" Before I could say anything, he was answered with a loud, affirmative "Wheek!" from one of the girls. "No, not you!", he said and there was silence...until we both started laughing our heads off!:crackup:

We knew that they know at least the following words: lettuce, hay, no, wait, mommy, daddy, Trace, Ripley (and all variations on their names), carrot and garden. These words all have something to do with them. But they don't even like anything cooked and they don't like things made with flour. I wonder how they figured it out???:?:

And people ask me if they respond to me or know their names... Silly humans, they are so much smarter than you think!

I do so love them

So, what words do other piggys know?

 

[PixieStix]

Mine don't have that big of a vocabulary. They know their own names, and will come to them (and know each other's as well), as well as nick names. Treat (treeeeeeeeeat) and dinner will somtimes get a response. They know tones of voice too (low, growling almost, means to stop doing that). But mostly they know noises, like will come to 'kissing' noises, jump in the cage when I tap on the coroplast or cubes, stand up on the cage when I tap it, etc.

 

[frashy]

Mine knows "do-a-circl" means to turn into a circle. Also, "Come here", but thats about it.

I've seen someone where they say "num-nums" and they all go NUTS its so cute!

 

[PIGGYMAMMA495]

Well I know piggies are to smart. My pigs know quite a bit. Bettis who is our 4 pounder piggy who was recently adopted, sings "wheeks"along with my daughter who sings him twinkle twinkle every single night. If she sleeps over at grandmas I put the phone to his ear and amazingly he wheeks along. He really knows it. Even if I just say Hi baby sing twinkle, he will start wheeking like he knows all the words and wrote the song himself. LOL.lol
As far as general words that I get a ton of response to that I know they know what Im saying are as follows:
Time to Eat, Snack Time, Floor Time, Tell me a story, treat, kissy, mommy, daddy, emma/sissy, dillon/brother, no no, bad boy/girl, good girl/boy, do a circle, jump, up, down, snuggle, night night, naptime, floortime, playtime, run run run, zoomies zoomies, and of course they seem to know our footsteps and how they sound and have a different wheek for each one of us whether its dillon, emma, me or daddy. But when mommy comes in the room they all run to the cage and wheek becuase they cant wait to hear what mommy's going to say because Its always good new and usually either food, snuggles,or floor time. I love piggies and they are so great. I can't wait to hear what everyone else's piggys say and know. Im working on the word recognization for pig/agility practice, but its a big word and will take a while, they seem to know the word obsticle course, but not all know it yet. So I retry to say the agility practice during their obstical practice/exercise but theese guys are smart and who knows someday they may be famous.

 

[ittybitty98577]

Mine know "Nummies" and "outside" they all settle down to be picked up when I say "Lets go outside"

 

[PiggieMamaKelly]

Well I hate to be a pessamist, but I really doubt guinea pigs have the brain capacity to recognize words. They are probably responding to your pitch, volume and intonation.

 

[PixieStix]

Well I hate to be a pessamist, but I really doubt guinea pigs have the brain capacity to recognize words. They are probably responding to your pitch, volume and intonation.

I totally agree with the tone thing. I know mine will respond well to tones, as well as noises. I do believe my pigs recognize specific words, such as their names, but some of the extensive vocabs on here have me dubious.

 

[cavyinhawaii]

Mine will wheek to "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" It cracks us up because it is usually when we are looking for the cats. Its like they are saying I'm a kitty.
We will also ask them "whose a piggy?" and they will wheek back at us.
They are so cute.

 

[Toadies]

For all the nay-sayers, I think that they all have different levels of intelligence - just like people - and different levels of attachment to their slaves. One of mine is very co-operative and responsive, while the other is not as "in tune" with mom. I'll tell Charlie "move your butt around" and he will keep his front feet in the same position and move his butt in a semi-circle until he is 1/4 to 1/2 turn from the starting position. Slick is not as agreeable to being co-operative. But, if Slick is bugging Charlie (like he does when Charlie's a bit "under the weather"), I'll tell him "leave him alone" and he will cease and desist and go to his hidey-house. My tone of voice doesn't seem to matter.

 

[Maisiepaisie]

Mine will respond with wheeks when I mention 'veggie time' and 'piggywiggy time'. So cute

 

[Slave to the Wheek]

Well, to the naysayers I say.. poo poo!
Here's my take. Guinea pigs have a very sophisticated language using sounds and tones. Therefore they have a huge capacity to understand sounds and language.

The day my guinea pig stopped in his tracks when I said 'come here' I realized he had figured out that when I say "come here" I'm going to actually pick him up. I didn't even realize that I did that until he showed me.

After that it became a no-holds barred test of their language abilities.

My long-term pigs know the difference between "pep-pep-per" and "carr ohtt" (I do say it in short bursts similar to how pigs speak) The pigs who've grown up with me know their names mean I'm talking to them. I always say their name before I start talking to them. If I yell at Turbo across the room and say "Turbo NO!" when he's chewing on his plastic..don't think he doesn't respond... he's hard headed but he knows that "no" means to stop whatever he's doing. Just like any dog would. It's called "sound aversion"

I talk non-stop to my pigs. I know they seem utterly stupid, but you have to really be physically close to your pigs, spend a ton of time with and talking to them but somehow they figure out certain words on their own. They seem to be over-run by their natural instincts when they are really young but the older pigs seem to start paying attention. My boys are my only pets and there are no children around that may have something to do with it. They don't sit in a corner, they are in the living room and they get talked to every day and I talk everytime I come near them.

My newest pig I've only had for about 3 months. He's figured out on his own what "treeets" means. He's the MOST talkative pig I've ever met and he answers back instantly even if he here's me say it while in regular conversation with my hubby.

I'm currently trying to teach they that "play play play" means it's floor time. I'm hoping that they figure that one out. It would be cool to ask them if they want floor time and get an answer back..

 

[PiggieMamaKelly]

Just not convinced. Yes, guinea pigs have a COMMUNICATION SYSTEM of sounds and tones but it certainly isn't language. Language is one of the highest cognitive functions that a brain is capable of, and the larger the brain the higher the level of functions. A smaller brain only has room for things like heartrate, breathing, sleep/wake cycles, eating, drinking, motor functions, survival instincts etc.

If you figure a dog (who has a brain maybe 100 times the size of a GPs) has a receptive vocabulary of let's say 20 words max, what can you conclude when you consider how much smaller the GP brain is?

While I don't think GPs really have the capacity to recognize words, I think they probably have a superior ability than even humans to recognize very subtle differences in pitch. People probably have very distinct ways of talking to their GPs and the pigs have no problem picking up on it (saying "no" is going to sound much different than "carrots" just because of your tone). Guinea pigs have an extra turn of the cochlea- the organ of the inner ear- which allows them to hear a far greater range of frequencies than humans. So in that regard I think they are highly skilled at picking up on what we are meaning, just not what we are saying.

But I can agree to disagree. There are worse things you can do to a guinea pig than call it smart.

 

[PixieStix]

I do think pigs understand certain words. As I've already said, I know mine recognize their names, come, no, a couple other words, as well as tones and sounds. I talk to mine ALL the time, however don't expect them to understand me. I'm NOT calling them unintelligent by any means. But some of these posters' claim piggies have vocabularies of twenty, not only words, but phrases, I'm not sure they really know what they're 'responding' to.

 

[tkbugg]

My new guinea Oreo is still shy so he doesn't respond a lot. But Henry responds when I say,"Do you want some lettuce?" He starts talking like crazy and stands on his food bowl. I definitely think guinea pigs are very smart animals but I do agree that just like other animals,(dogs, cats, etc.) they respond to the tone of your voice. If I call Henry in a low, non-energetic voice he doesn't come to me, but if I call him with a lot of energy and high-pictched voice he'll run right to me. I love him sooo much, he's my baby. And now I have two!

 

[Haley0489]

My pigs understand sounds/tones/actions more than words themselves.
They stop whenever I say "no", but if I just say no they won't listen. I have to say it in a deep, stern voice "Nooo!"

I honestly think it's tones not actual words. Say treat in a monotone unexcited voice and see if you get the same reaction as "you want some treaaaaaaats! ". There may be a very small % of pigs that actually understand, as everyone has their own levels of intelligence, but I still think the majority of animals respond to tones.

 

[Piggies&Kinz]

Mine will sometimes respond to his name...
He mostly just knows that crinkly bag sounds mean food...and he wheeks loudly whenever I open the closet door(his hay/pellets are stored in there) and when the fridge is opened.

 

[theresaj]

I think they are very intellegent little creatures in their own way. They may not know or understand our words but they can respond to our tone body language and demeanor. Perhaps they can recognize tone of voice and body language that makes them think uh oh am I in trouble? from the same that has them saying treat time!!

 

[Trace_n_Ripley]

Thanks for the responses! It's nice to know I'm not the only crazy one.

If you figure a dog (who has a brain maybe 100 times the size of a GPs) has a receptive vocabulary of let's say 20 words max, what can you conclude when you consider how much smaller the GP brain is?

Actually, I heard somewhere that the average dog has a vocabulary of more like 100 words or so. For Example: My parents used to have two dogs that they took to obedience classes. My Mom broke her wrist so I subbed for her for a while. The first class was so embarassing because Storm knew what to do while I was getting corrected for getting her to do the wrong thing! (I gave up and followed her lead )

There seems to be a lot of scientific research that has come out recently about how smart animals really are (i.e. calling someone a bird-brain is really a compliment!). So, I don't discount guinea pigs as being dumb, just because their communication system is hard for we humans to understand. They certainly are responding to something. Not to mention thay have trained us really well!lol

But I can agree to disagree. There are worse things you can do to a guinea pig than call it smart.

Our girls seem to like it when we tell them they're beautiful, but love it when we tell them they're smart .

 

[PixieStix]

So, I don't discount guinea pigs as being dumb, just because their communication system is hard for we humans to understand. They certainly are responding to something. Not to mention thay have trained us really well!lol

I don't think anyone was calling them dumb. I think responding to tones and voices IS intelligent, but people are just stating it may not be the actual words they are responding to. Either way they are clever.

 

[theresaj]

I think it's more that they have a great ability to form associations between a certain word and body language and a certain thing we do with them when we say said word. Whether dogs for example, can understand what "NO." actually 'means' could be debatable but they can discern that we tell them "NO." when they did something we don't approve of and it means don't do it cause we don't like when they do it. It's still very much intellegence. I think it's kind of similar to how a human baby begins forming their understanding of communication.