General Approach/Tips for Coding OvS Files

Workflow

• Work from clip 1 → clip 15, moving onto the next succeeding clip ONLY AFTER all speaker speech is segmented + tiers are coded

• Within each clip:

  • First identify and focus on the most prominent speaker (e.g. the most talkative, loudest, producing the clearest speech) >> work your way down until all speakers are accounted for

  • Start from speech segmentation → minCHAT → vxm/lex/mwu (for CHI) OR xds/cds tiers (for non-CHI speakers), moving onto the next speaker ONLY AFTER one full cycle from segmentation ~ tier coding is complete

  • If there are multiple speakers, select an arbitrary window (30 secs) to segment, annotate, and tier code all present speakers and repeat until you work your way to the 2 min mark

Segmentation:

• First, listen to the context + 2 min clip in its entirety without segmenting, but instead looking out for:

  • Whether there is (a) speech or (b) silence

    • If there is speech, mentally keep a record of how many speakers are talking

• After listening to each clip:

  • Make a subtask and specify whether the clip in question contains (a) speech or (b) silence under your assigned ClickUp task

  • If speech is indecipherable where you can’t identify a clear cut boundary between where the speech begins and ends + speech in question isn't from a speaker that is actively interacting with the primary speakers (e.g. CHI, FA1, MA1, UC1....), you do not need to annotate

Annotation/minCHAT:

• When unsure about minCHAT format, immediately go to GS tutorials/PPT slides to check the specific format

• For not-so-clear speech:

  • Go to control >> change the rate to 50 ~ 80 and see whether some/all of the speech is audible

  • Listen to the speech segment at least 3 times

  • If 80% sure what the speaker is saying, include in the transcription; if not, default to "xxx."

XDS/CDS Coding:

• Please reference this page for coding different types of child directed speech

General Tips:

• For SF5 files: you'll hear a lot of actual CHI speech with real words

  • Distinguish between CHI vs. other children in the file

  • Code CHI for lex and mwu (no need for vcm), accordingly

• Make comments on the subtask for the associated clip number about any coding issues you face as you go (e.g., if there is a annotation that you would like reviewed or if there is anything weird/difficult to code with this file)