So I realized something last week about the speech habits of Pokemon on the anime...
While most Pokemon say their names when they talk, the cat ones have the distinction of speaking normal cat. Ever since the St.Anne episode, Persian have always said either "nyo" or "mrow" (oddly, in the dub, it's only Giovanni's Persian that "mrows" for some reason), and if I recall properly, in every episode after Go West Young Meowth, the nonspeaking Meowth have all said "nya", with the exception of Gordon's (and you really can't say the Meowth were saying their name in those incidents either, as it was more a cutesy "meow". Skitty, Delcatty, and Glameow all have their variations on "nya" as well.
Similarly, all the dog-based Pokemon communicate in growls, yips, and whimpers.
Which begs the question: why are Cat Pokemon incapable of saying their names? The only reason I can imagine is that people actually keep these animals as pets, and it would be pretty disconcerting to see, say, Persian, open its mouth and say "persian". But I find it fascinating nonetheless.
While most Pokemon say their names when they talk, the cat ones have the distinction of speaking normal cat. Ever since the St.Anne episode, Persian have always said either "nyo" or "mrow" (oddly, in the dub, it's only Giovanni's Persian that "mrows" for some reason), and if I recall properly, in every episode after Go West Young Meowth, the nonspeaking Meowth have all said "nya", with the exception of Gordon's (and you really can't say the Meowth were saying their name in those incidents either, as it was more a cutesy "meow". Skitty, Delcatty, and Glameow all have their variations on "nya" as well.
Similarly, all the dog-based Pokemon communicate in growls, yips, and whimpers.
Which begs the question: why are Cat Pokemon incapable of saying their names? The only reason I can imagine is that people actually keep these animals as pets, and it would be pretty disconcerting to see, say, Persian, open its mouth and say "persian". But I find it fascinating nonetheless.