It may be helpful to first see what a transcript looks like. The following transcript is taken from TG, (a copy of which can be found in your reader).



Notice in the above that text there are (i) some familiar elements, such as the work "played," which is spelled normally; (ii) some elements that may be less familiar, such as "firs," the spelling of which has been altered (by dropping the t) to capture its realization by this speaker; and (iii) some elements that may not be familiar at all, such as the colons and underlining used to represent the speakers production of "ba:ske'ball." Try reading the transcript out loud, producing the utterance that is represented by it.

Now try listening to it. First click on the "Listen" button directly to the left of the transcript to hear the whole utterance. Next click on any piece of the text that is red. This will play just that word (or those words). NOTE: This option is available throughout the glossary to facilitate your hearing of the phenomenon the stretch of talk is meant to exemplify.

The goal of the first part of this tutorial will be to introduce you to symbols used in transcribing conversation that are probably unfamiliar, and the aspects of talk-in-interaction they represent.