A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription

This paper formulates a proposal for standardising spoken language transcription, as practised in conversation analysis, sociolinguistics, dialectology and related fields, with the help of the TEI guidelines. Two areas relevant to standardisation are identified and discussed: first, the macro struct...

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Main Author: Thomas Schmidt
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Text Encoding Initiative Consortium 2011-06-01
Series:Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/142
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author Thomas Schmidt
author_facet Thomas Schmidt
author_sort Thomas Schmidt
collection DOAJ
description This paper formulates a proposal for standardising spoken language transcription, as practised in conversation analysis, sociolinguistics, dialectology and related fields, with the help of the TEI guidelines. Two areas relevant to standardisation are identified and discussed: first, the macro structure of transcriptions, as embodied in the data models and file formats of transcription tools such as ELAN, Praat or EXMARaLDA; second, the micro structure of transcriptions as embodied in transcription conventions such as CA, HIAT or GAT. A two-step process is described in which first the macro structure is represented in a generic TEI format based on elements defined in the P5 version of the Guidelines. In the second step, character data in this representation is parsed according to the regularities of a transcription convention resulting in a more fine-grained TEI markup which is also based on P5. It is argued that this two step process can, on the one hand, map idiosyncratic differences in tool formats and transcription conventions onto a unified representation. On the other hand, differences motivated by different theoretical decisions can be retained in a manner which still allows a common processing of data from different sources. In order to make the standard usable in practice, a conversion tool—TEI Drop—is presented which uses XSL transformations to carry out the conversion between different tool formats (CHAT, ELAN, EXMARaLDA, FOLKER and Transcriber) and the TEI representation of transcription macro structure (and vice versa) and which also provides methods for parsing the micro structure of transcriptions according to two different transcription conventions (HIAT and cGAT). Using this tool, transcribers can continue to work with software they are familiar with while still producing TEI-conformant transcription files. The paper concludes with a discussion of the work needed in order to establish the proposed standard. It is argued that both tool formats and the TEI guidelines are in a sufficiently mature state to serve as a basis for standardisation. Most work consequently remains in analysing and standardising differences between different transcription conventions.
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spelling doaj-art-11032d58ff8e490cb25b420ce857d17f2025-01-30T13:56:10ZdeuText Encoding Initiative ConsortiumJournal of the Text Encoding Initiative2162-56032011-06-01110.4000/jtei.142A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language TranscriptionThomas SchmidtThis paper formulates a proposal for standardising spoken language transcription, as practised in conversation analysis, sociolinguistics, dialectology and related fields, with the help of the TEI guidelines. Two areas relevant to standardisation are identified and discussed: first, the macro structure of transcriptions, as embodied in the data models and file formats of transcription tools such as ELAN, Praat or EXMARaLDA; second, the micro structure of transcriptions as embodied in transcription conventions such as CA, HIAT or GAT. A two-step process is described in which first the macro structure is represented in a generic TEI format based on elements defined in the P5 version of the Guidelines. In the second step, character data in this representation is parsed according to the regularities of a transcription convention resulting in a more fine-grained TEI markup which is also based on P5. It is argued that this two step process can, on the one hand, map idiosyncratic differences in tool formats and transcription conventions onto a unified representation. On the other hand, differences motivated by different theoretical decisions can be retained in a manner which still allows a common processing of data from different sources. In order to make the standard usable in practice, a conversion tool—TEI Drop—is presented which uses XSL transformations to carry out the conversion between different tool formats (CHAT, ELAN, EXMARaLDA, FOLKER and Transcriber) and the TEI representation of transcription macro structure (and vice versa) and which also provides methods for parsing the micro structure of transcriptions according to two different transcription conventions (HIAT and cGAT). Using this tool, transcribers can continue to work with software they are familiar with while still producing TEI-conformant transcription files. The paper concludes with a discussion of the work needed in order to establish the proposed standard. It is argued that both tool formats and the TEI guidelines are in a sufficiently mature state to serve as a basis for standardisation. Most work consequently remains in analysing and standardising differences between different transcription conventions.https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/142spoken languagetranscriptionstandardizationdigital infrastructures
spellingShingle Thomas Schmidt
A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
spoken language
transcription
standardization
digital infrastructures
title A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
title_full A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
title_fullStr A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
title_full_unstemmed A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
title_short A TEI-based Approach to Standardising Spoken Language Transcription
title_sort tei based approach to standardising spoken language transcription
topic spoken language
transcription
standardization
digital infrastructures
url https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/142
work_keys_str_mv AT thomasschmidt ateibasedapproachtostandardisingspokenlanguagetranscription
AT thomasschmidt teibasedapproachtostandardisingspokenlanguagetranscription