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Transcribing conversation
Spoken conversation is not written text. To study how people take turns, interrupt, hesitate and repair misunderstandings, you need a transcript that records how things were said as well as what was said.
Why ordinary spelling is not enough
A tidy written version of speech removes exactly the details that matter for interaction: pauses, overlaps, stretches, changes in pitch and loudness. The standard system used in conversation analysis was developed by Gail Jefferson (see Jefferson, 2004).
Basic principles
- Transcribe what was said, not what should have been said. Keep false starts and repetitions.
- Number every line so you can refer to it.
- Label speakers consistently, and anonymise names and places.
- Time pauses in tenths of a second; do not guess by eye.
- Listen repeatedly. A good transcript takes many passes.
Common symbols
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
[ ] | Start and end of overlapping talk |
= | No gap between turns (“latching”) |
(0.5) | Timed pause, here half a second |
(.) | Micropause, shorter than about 0.2 seconds |
: | Stretched sound, e.g. so: |
- | Word cut off, e.g. I wa- |
. ? , | Falling, rising and “continuing” intonation |
| underline | Emphasis |
CAPITALS | Louder than the surrounding talk |
°quiet° | Quieter than the surrounding talk |
>faster< <slower> | Speeded-up and slowed-down talk |
↑ ↓ | Marked rise or fall in pitch |
.hh hh | In-breath and out-breath |
( ) (word) | Unclear talk; a best guess |
((laughs)) | Transcriber’s comment |
A worked example
01 Mia: so did you (.) manage to get the tick[ets? 02 Ben: [yeah I= 03 Mia: =oh good 04 (0.8) 05 Ben: they're for the (.) twe:lfth?
- Line 1: Mia pauses very briefly, then Ben starts to speak while she is still saying “tickets” (the opening bracket in line 2 lines up with the bracket in line 1).
- Lines 2–3: the equals signs show Mia answers with no gap.
- Line 4: a timed pause of 0.8 seconds.
- Line 5: a micropause, a stretched vowel and a rising tune that makes the date sound like a question.
Other systems
For child language sampling, many clinicians and researchers use the CHAT format with CLAN software from the CHILDES project (MacWhinney, 2000). It records utterances, errors and morphology in a way that supports counting and analysis. Jefferson notation is designed for interactional detail rather than for automatic counting.
Practical tips
- Decide in advance what level of detail you need. Not every project needs every symbol.
- Have a second person check a sample of your transcript to test reliability.
- Use free software such as Praat or ELAN to measure pauses and overlaps precisely.
- Record with consent, and store files securely.
Rule of thumb. Include only the detail you can justify from the recording, and be consistent so the transcript can be checked.
Sources and further reading
- Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation. John Benjamins.
- Hepburn, A., & Bolden, G. B. (2017). Transcribing for Social Research. Sage.
- Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696–735.
- MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk (3rd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.