By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Ever wonder what your dog is trying to say? Well, a University of Texas at Arlington researcher is aiming to turn barks, howls and whimpers of man’s best friend into intelligible speech — a kind of Rosetta Stone of woof.

Computer scientist Kenny Zhu has built what he says is the world’s largest video and audio catalog of canine vocalizations. In papers published this year , Zhu and his colleagues at the university report potential phonemes — the smallest units of sound — and word-like patterns that could one day be turned into full sentences understandable to humans.

“The ultimate goal is to make a translator where you can talk freely with your pet,” said Zhu, a professor of computer science and engineering at UT Arlington. “We can

See Full Page