Data transcription - SUSAS All pertinent SUSAS speech files (those consisting of more than single word utterances) were transcribed using the general conventions described below. The SUSAS transcription was carried out on a Sun Ultra 30 workstation using Sony MDR V600 headphones. The transcription was done using the emacs text editor which was linked to the visual and auditory soundwave from the speech recording in an xwaves window. A program written at the LDC linked the xwaves signal to the emacs buffer so that a highlighted region of the soundwave could be brought into the emacs buffer as a timestamp via a simple keystroke. Similarly, it was possible to listen to any timemarked turn in the transcript, and view the aligned soundwave as well. Thus, a visual as well as auditory signal was transcribed. The transcription conventions provided below serve as a guideline as to how the SUSAS speech files were transcribed. SUSAS TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS - General What to transcribe: All speech files consisting of more than single word utterances Definition of turns: Separate turns are defined by the following criteria: (1) speaker change (2) within one speaker's stretch of talk, a long turn should be broken up in terms of what makes grammatical/semantic sense. (3) If there is an extra-long pause within a single speaker's turn, break the turn up into two turns. Timestamps: Each speaker turn is marked with a unique timestamp (in seconds). The timestamps mark the beginning and end time of each turn relative to the beginning of the recording. Each timestamp is precise to the 100th of a second, and is in the format: beginning time [space] ending time, followed by the turn. Some samples: 49.12 50.81 : and so %oh my #God# 74.41 78.00 : i am glad i am not a fighter pilot Special Conventions: Acronyms Acronyms pronounced like a word are written in all caps with no spaces, e.g. AIDS NARAL Acronyms pronounced like the individual letters are written in all caps with spaces between the letters: C I A H I V C E O Numbers Write all numbers out, do not use digits twenty-two nineteen-ninety-five Interjections Use the most standard spelling; don't try to represent lengthening by writing multiple consonants (like 'ooooh'). uh-huh mhm uh-oh okay jeez Punctuation Due to the nature of the SUSAS speech files, punctuation was not added to the transcription. Special symbols: Noises, conversational phenomena, foreign words, etc. are marked with special symbols. In the table below, "text" represents any word or descriptive phrase. {text} sound made by the talker {laugh} {scream} {breath} [text] sound not made by the talker (background or channel) [rollercoaster] [helicopter] [/text] end of continuous or intermittent sound not made by the talker (beginning marked with previous [text]) [[text]] comment; most often used to describe unusual characteristics of immediately preceding or following speech (as opposed to separate noise event) [[excessive screaming]] ((text)) unintelligible; text is best guess at transcription ((airfield)) (( )) unintelligible; can't even guess text (( )) -text partial word text- -tion absolu- #text# simultaneous speech on the same channel //text// aside (talker addressing someone in background) //wait a minute, i am talking to your sister// +text+ mispronounced word (spell it in usual orthography) +should+ **text** idiosyncratic word, not in common use **poodle-ish** %text This symbol flags non-lexemes, which are general hesitation sounds, eg. %mm %uh &text used to mark proper names and place names &John &Nassau &Space &Center 7. Quality control (QC) procedures The creation of the transcripts was made in an iterative manner. The first step was to transcribe and timestamp the appropriate portion of each conversation. Once this was completed, proper formatting and spelling was checked and corrected. Then, a second pass over all of the transcripts was made, where both content and formatting were checked once more. Throughout this process, small improvements were constantly made and re-checked for accuracy. Syntax: To check the well-formedness of the bracketing, a program was written which goes over the transcripts and notes any apparent irregularities. This program was later adapted for on-line use by the transcribers to be used while creating the transcripts. A final syntax check was run over all transcripts before the final release. Timestamps: To check the well-formedness of timestamps, a program was developed that checked for (1) overlapping timestamps, (2) start times that are greater than end times, (3) turns that are missing timestamps, (4) the proper formatting of a blank line before each timestamp, (5) proper number of digits in each timestamp, and (6) the proper marking of the speaker id. This procedure was folded into the syntax checking procedure to be used on-line by the transcribers. Content: To check that the properly spelled and formatted transcription actually matched the spoken signal, a second human pass was made over all of the transcripts. In many instances, three or more passes were made as well. SUSAS TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS - Specific Background noise The SUSAS speech files contain constant moderate to excessive background noise/static. For this reason, each transcript begins with eg. [static] and ends with eg. [/static] Single Channel The SUSAS speech files are single channel recordings with multiple speakers on the same channel. Speaker Identification For the two helicopter speech files, speakers are identified in the following manner: Pilots 1 and 2 are in the same helicopter. Pilots 3 and 4 are in a different helicopter. Ground_ Controller1 is on the ground. For the rollercoaster speech files, the primary speaker (i.e. the person being recorded) is not specifically identified. Secondary speakers are labelled as eg.: (1M), (1F). In these examples the 1 indicates the first secondary speaker and the M indicates that speaker's gender. SUSAS was transcribed by Dr. David J. Miller IV. If you have any questions regarding these transcripts, please email damiller@ldc.upenn.edu.