4. Coding Accuracy (and errors)

  1. Coding Accuracy (and errors)

Accuracy is the measure of any errors in the transcribed utterances.

This part requires manual coding as CALF is not yet advanced enough to spot errors.

If a clause (main clause or sub-clause) is error free, insert the code “errfr” at the end of that utterance, before the clause boundary (i.e. ::: or :;: , for details refer to Section 3).

When coding errors, keep in mind the following:

  • Error codes appear before boundary symbols: “:::”, “:;:” and “|”
  • Gravity of an error is measured by the (semantic) distance between the produced form and the target form.
  • Minor errors are those which do not cause ambiguity. Erroneous forms may be unidiomatic or even bizarre, but I still consider them minor because I have no difficulty in guessing the intended forms. (old man of Christmas)
  • corrected errors need not be indicated.
  • If a clause is not marked with errfr, it is counted as incorrect.

A basic unit of error coding is like this:

err_m_s

“err” always goes in the front to indicates an error exist in that clause.

Central position indicates the severity of error, m (minor), s (severe), i (unintelligible), a (avoidance).

End position indicates type of error, l(exical), s(yntactic), p(honological), m(orphological), d(iscoursal), p(r)agmatic

Here is a summary of all possible combination of codes:

<X> unclear syllable or sound up to one word
<XX> two unclear words
<XXX> more than two unclear words
<?> best guess
errfr error-free clause
err_m_m minor morphological error
err_s_m severe morphological error
err_i_m unintelligible morphological error
err_m_s minor syntactic error
err_s_s severe syntactic error
err_i_s unintelligible error
err_a_s structure is absent. impossible to comprehend. (a pencil?)
err_m_l minor lexical error
err_s_l severe lexical error
err_i_l unintelligible lexical error
err_a_l apparent lexical avoidance. (now he’s going to the * the # .) often appears with # . including switching to mother tongue.
err_m_p minor phonological error
err_s_p severe lexical error
err_i_p unintelligible phonological error
err_a_p never seen such a thing
err_m_d minor discourse error
err_s_d severe discourse error
err_i_d unintelligible discourse error. There may be no such thing.
err_a avoidance of unspecific type. total abandonment. often appears with # (now he’s # .)
err_m_r minor pragmatic error
err_s_r severe pragmatic error
err_i_r unintelligible pragmatic error