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Pokémon Speech:

Why can Pokémon only say their name?

Note: This is a theory of mine. It is not in any way proven.

Pokémon have a very limited phonetic learning window. They have about one year in which they can learn to make sounds, and once it passes, they are unable to make any new sounds without intensive study and desire. This one-year period is after the Pokemon is born. As Pokemon usually spend their first year in the wild, surrounded only by other similar Pokemon, they only learn the same syllables and never get an opportunity to make new phonetics.

In addition, Pokemon have limited sound-making capacities. Although many Pokemon can achieve extremes with their voices, ranging from very high pitches to very loud pitches to low pitches to soothing sounds and cacophonous creations, this is done in exchange for phonetic ability. As such, while a Whismur can growl and scream, its mouth can produce few sounds because it has neither the parts needed (no lips) nor the knowledge of how to produce sounds. Different Pokemon have different phonetic disabilities - Pikachu is unable to speak consonant clusters, and Magnemite and Voltorb are unable to communicate without using electric pulses.

Some Pokemon are specifically talented: Meowth, for example, can produce almost as many sounds as a human, while Chatot have a very wide sound-learning range that lasts for years, allowing it to suitably imitate the sounds used by their trainers and other Pokemon.

However, despite this, there are very few cases of Pokemon being able to speak language as we know it - Pokemon are mostly passive learners and as such, while they can understand human speech rather quickly, they have a weak grasp of the rules and as such, can't remember how to form a sentence (and would be incapable of making the sounds necessary for that sentence to be understandable). Pokemon have been shown to learn languages to which they have the most exposure and are highly regular; the more irregularities in the language (verb conjugation, declensions, ergativity, etc.), the harder it will be for the Pokemon to absorb them.

Pokemon may not learn languages simply because they have no need. Although Pokemon communicate differently depending on species, all Pokemon can understand each other barring extreme cases, and Pokemon, provided they've spent a suitable amount of time exposed to the language and sometimes, even with little exposure, can understand their trainers. There are ongoing efforts to understand Pokemon speech better so that trainers may appreciate Pokemon more as friends rather than (somewhat) silent partners.