The Animal Languages

It is impossible to live in rural Cambodia and not hear the language of the animals, developed and learned by humans for countless years for the purpose of speaking to their pets or livestock. Many different styles exist for a variety of animals. When I first started to write about them in my notes, I wondered for a while if these commands were more than just a way to communicate. I asked a bunch of people I knew if communication with the animals was, in some sense, an attempt to communicate with human spirits making their way through the cycle of reincarnation. The reaction was a blank stare, and statements regarding the idea of reincarnation as a "ridiculous idea." Really? Reincarnation is a ridiculous idea in a Buddhist country? Then again, I would strongly disagree with the description of Cambodia as an orthodox Buddhist country. The common religion is rather a kind of nebulous world of good and evil spirits, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Animism all sort of mixed together. Thus, the language of the animals remains purely a pragmatic one.

Recently, I asked a student if he could demonstrate these commands for me so that I could make an audio recording of them. We went through a bunch of them, and he explained to me what each one was for. This first one is a collection of commands for a cow (Come Here, Go Away, Stop and Wait For Me, Stop Eating Grass). Cows are often wandering around everywhere, and it seems logical that there would be a special set of commands in order to get them to do anything. Not that they follow these commands, but it is better than doing nothing. It makes sense that these would be for a cow, since the low, rough timbre of the voice imitates what a cow sounds like.


This next set of commands is for pigs (Go Away, Come and Eat). Pigs are usually kept around the house, so there are not a lot of commands for them except these. At the beginning of the clip you can hear the word "churoo," which means "pig" in Khmer. The staccato style of speaking is reminiscent of snorting grunt as well.




This last one is for dogs (Come and Eat, Stop Barking, Go And Bite Someone!). It is interesting that this last one should exist, although dogs do serve as an intruder alarm. (My apologies for the picture, I have none containing dogs. Please enjoy this scenic view of some rice fields).



I have a few more of some other animals, but these are by far the most interesting.