Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · 6d

Purrieties exist because people talk differently as their cats depending on the cat community and on the social media platform. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, differences are out there waiting to be discovered and described.
meowfactor.hypotheses.org/7055
#linguistics 🧪

Purrieties of Language

It’s all about cat-inspired language varieties Purrieties exist because people talk differently as their cats depending on the cat community they are in and on the social media platform they are on. W...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · 17d

Thank mew 😸

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · 17d

🧪

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · 17d

I’m a Dialectologist. Get Meowt There! meowfactor.hypotheses.org/7032

#cats #linguistics

I’m a Dialectologist. Get Meowt There!

A dialectological look at how we talk about cats online Get meowt there! Out there is the digital realm of cat-related spaces where I am following cats and their humans, where I see lots of cat photos...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · 17d

I’m a Dialectologist. Get Meowt There! meowfactor.hypotheses.org/7032

#cats #linguistics

I’m a Dialectologist. Get Meowt There!

A dialectological look at how we talk about cats online Get meowt there! Out there is the digital realm of cat-related spaces where I am following cats and their humans, where I see lots of cat photos...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Sep 5

An old newspaper adage says “If it bleeds, it leads”. While that may be true for many news stories out there, it does not apply to cats in the news. Mostly cat news are feel-good stories making you happy.

meowfactor.hypotheses.org/7011

#cats #news

Cats in the News – Cat Mews

An old newspaper adage says “If it bleeds, it leads”. While that may be true for many news stories out there, it does not apply to cats in the news. Mostly cat news are feel-good stories making you ha...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Aug 8

#InternationalCatDay #Weltkatzentag
For a cat owner, every day is Cat Day. For the media, Cat Day is once a year on 08 August. Or is it?

meowfactor.hypotheses.org/6906

International Cat Day

For a cat owner, every day is Cat Day. For the media, Cat Day is once a year on 08 August. Or is it? There are various dates for world cat day, for international cat day, for national cat...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Aug 1

Time to prepare for 08 August - International Cat Day. Be in the know and read my book ➡️ www.cambridge.org/at/universit...

Purrieties of Language | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

www.cambridge.org

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Aug 1

cool research 😻

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jul 20

That's interesting. Perhaps it's therefore in their memory/DNA to look for shapes and boxes.

Do you remember the channel the show was on?

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jul 19

On my quest to discover research on why cats love cardboard boxes so much, I have come across a research article that looks at how visual illusions affect cats. Cats can perceive shapes even if they are just illusions. 🧪

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

If I fits I sits: A citizen science investigation into illusory contour susceptibility in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus)

A well-known phenomenon to cat owners is the tendency of their cats to sit in enclosed spaces such as boxes, laundry baskets, and even shape outlines …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jul 5

That is pawsome 😻

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jul 4

Let’s apply some PR (purring relations) to the Meow Factor and come up with catchy slogans to bring the essence of the blog to you, its readers, and to attract new people to linguistics with cats

meowfactor.hypotheses.org/6708

The Meow Factor in One Line

Let’s apply some PR (purring relations) to the Meow Factor and come up with catchy slogans to bring the essence of the blog to you, its readers, and to attract new people to linguistics with cats. The...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jul 2

Many people have an online account for their cats. I noticed that people pretended to be their cats. As cats, they used their own kind of language with their own words and spellings. As a dialectologist, I went “yes!” straight away.
#GuestNewsletter 🐦🐦 🧪
fedeminozzi.substack.com/p/weekly-new...

Weekly newsletter - The magic of words: Special Guest

The Meow-ning of Words: When Linguistics Gets Fur-Midable!

fedeminozzi.substack.com

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

I could not have said it better 😻

tonyjoyce.bsky.social @tonyjoyce.bsky.social · Jun 14

Come for the purr, stay for the “Catnipulation.”

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

Linguistics with Cats: focusing the cat lense on language 🧪
open.substack.com/pub/purrspec...

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

That could be my new slogan 😻

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

Linguistics about and for cats 🐦🐦

Jen Nycz @jennycz.bsky.social · Jun 14

@meow-factor.bsky.social Josie hasn’t read your book yet but thinks it’s very comfortable 😺

Tabby cat lying down and resting her head on a small pile of books topped by “Purrieties of Language”

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

Aaaw ❤️ That is exactly why I wrote the book. I am glad that she finds it comfortable

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 14

Linguistics with Cats: focusing the cat lense on language 🧪
open.substack.com/pub/purrspec...

Linguistics with Cats

Study language with the help of cats 🐈‍⬛

open.substack.com

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · Jun 1

There are cats in LOTR 🐈‍⬛😸😻: the fiddling cat in a song, a cat in Bree, cats jumping on poor mice (Sam pouncing on Gollum), cats of Queen Beruthiel (I still need to check out Queen Beruthiel’s cats). So we have cats in their roles as entertainers and hunters.

am reading LOTR now

Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 13

aaaaaaaw

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 11

next issue coming on Wednesday. Sign up for linguistics with cats open.substack.com/pub/purrspec...

Purrspectives in Language | Meow Factor | Substack

Purrspectives in Language brings you linguistics with cats — 😻 purrfect for you if you love language and cats and want to discover linguistics with a pawsome feline flair 🐈‍⬛. Click to read Purrspect...

open.substack.com

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 10

That as well 😸

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 10

Ameowdala

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 10

This is why I love my research on cat-inspired language: Luke Skywhiskers, Purrincess Leia, Han Meowlo, Purr2D2, C3Purro, Meowda, Jabba the Cat, Darth Meowder, Empurror PawPawtine on "May the fourth".

This is cats meeting Star Wars meeting cultural meaningfulness

#Caturday 🐦🐦 🧪

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Meow Factor @meow-factor.bsky.social · May 8

in time for Meowther's Day on Sunday, here are some #catspeak words for my cat friends to use for their hoomans

meowfactor.hypotheses.org/6027

Catspeak Selection: April 2025

Just a few cat-inspired words found in April 2025. They are good examples for word formation. The meowpheme (morpheme) is given in <> as is usually done in linguistics. And some days you can use for y...

meowfactor.hypotheses.org

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