A. Golden Rule
The golden rule in transcribing is to put down the sound that
you actually hear and not the transcription of the word you think you are
hearing. If you want to aid the end user (it could be yourself) of your
transcription, you can put in a comment (see below).
'Comment' is also useful for sounds that you cannot make out, e.g. poor
recording, strange noise, etc.
B. Ambiguous Sequences
Use a space to separate two phonemes when ambiguity arises within a syllable. (Syllable boundaries are marked by another scheme.) A
space does not signal a pause, it will be dealt with in another section.
For example:-
|
2 phonemes |
1 phoneme |
|
a r (vowel+consonant) |
ar (vowel) |
|
ka r ('car' with final 'r') |
kard ('card') |
Use the sequence {U
...text...} to enter in any comments for any thing that you cannot
transcribe, e.g. a block or some strange sounds that you heard.
Examples taken from some real transcriptions:-
|
{U child2 is 6 yr old Sean- open conversation with interviewer} |
|
/KAHQ KAHQ {U prob. meaning 'cos', i.e., 'because', but also used as initiator} |
|
{U resyllabification with stress on the [v] sound of the particle "of"} |
|
/a :"bisht :"tchis-ta {U means "a big sister"} |
|
{U not sure what "baidhey joa", or something like that, means} |
|
{U subject is interrupted by interviewer} |
The convention of {T n}
is used to identify speakers. For example, in an interview, {T 1} is
used to mark the beginning of the turn of the interviewee
and {T 2} is used to mark the turn of the interviewer.
A typical interview will have the following structure:-
{T 2} /did /yuu :"yuuz :sloa :"speech?
{T 1} ("arm), QQ /"not Q :es"pesh-ley. :"noa.
{T 2} /"dhis /iz /yaw :"yuu-zhal :"rait?
{T 1} :"yes. :"ruf-ley.
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