[[folder:Analysis on Martha's Language Skills]]
How can Martha talk? Well, when she eats alphabet soup, the letters (or at least the information they carry), go to her brain, as is explained in the theme song. However, this doesn't work on other dogs -- in "Martha and Skits", Skits is fed a bowl of soup and doesn't learn to talk, and in "Bye, Martha", Pablum tries to make other dogs talk with alphabet soup, but fails.

If Martha goes two days without any soup she can no longer talk until she eats more soup (as seen in the first episode), and if one or more letters are missing, they aren't transmitted to her brain and she cannot say those letters (as seen in "Martha Blah Blah").

She can speak English and Dog, and can also understand many other animal "languages" (including Cat, Bird, Mouse, and Elephant) but cannot actually speak them. The only animal that Martha is explicitly not stated to be able to understand is monkeys (revealed, appropriately enough, in "Martha Doesn't Speak Monkey"), and it's never revealed why.

If Martha eats soup from another country, she starts speaking only in that country's language, as shown in "Bye, Martha" and "?Que Pasa, Martha?". Also, if she consumes musical notes, she will begin singing instead of speaking ("Martha Sings"), and if she eats a document written in a peculiar dialect, she will speak in that dialect (as shown in "The Martha Code" and "Thou Callest Me a Dog"). "Martha's Worst Best Day" also reveals that if the soup can is opened from the bottom, she will speak in opposites. Eating regular alphabet soup can cancel out these effects, or they can simply be waited out.

Usually, the effect will take place immediately after consumption, though "Thou Callest Me a Dog" shows that entire manuscripts may take about a day before the effects start showing.

So, yes, Martha does speak, and boy she has a lot to say!
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