If you have cats you will notice that they ‘speak’ differently depending on what they want from you.
We can think of this as a m-i-a-u
Just an m sound stands for contact. A mother cat uses this mmm sound when she calls her kittens. When two cats greet each other they often use this m as well. It can sometimes sound like mmmmrrrrpp
The i sound is often used when a cat is in pain. The miau sounds like miiiiiau. When you hear this sound you know that something is not right.
The a sound is a sign that your cat wants something. As in miaaaaau. The more they want it, the more defined the a sound is.
The u sound happens when a cat is frustrated, or miserable and this sounds like miauuuuu
You tend to find that people who talk to their cats tend to have talkative cats. My cats have always been very ‘chatty’. Even the ones who never made a sound as kittens start talking as soon as they come to live with me. I always have two cats so I think the kitten tends to learn from listening to the older cat interacting with me.