13.12.2001, Phonemic annotation

The procedure of annotation (sometimes called labelling or transcription alignment) is an extension of the procedure of transcription. The difference is as follows:

Transcription:

the assignment of a symbolic representation to a segment of a speech signal (as in phonetic transcription, phonemic transcription, orthographic transcription).

Annotation:

the assignment of a segment of a speech signal to a transcription (i.e. providing the transcription with temporal information which permits the relevant segment of the signal to be identified).

For this class we will be using special software, which is on your CD-ROMs, called Praat. The software was developed by Paul Boersma, a colleague in the phonetics department of the Uiversity of Amsterdam.