Legal Transcription Styles

Smooth or Standard Verbatim Transcription Styles

Smooth Transcription Style

Accurately captures everything spoken by participants but for readability purposes omits:

• False starts (words spoken at the beginning of a sentence which the speaker quickly corrects with a change of direction).
• Repetitions.
• Excessive use of filler words such as ‘um’, ‘you know’and ‘like’.

Use/Application:

• Style preferred by 95% of clients.
• Suits any transcription requirements which do not demand linguistic analysis.

Example:

I would expect that if you were silent on this point in the rule, the utilities would likely propose something in their specific programs, and that, I think, creates the kind of flexibility we were hoping for as we crafted the statute.

Standard Verbatim Transcription Style

Constitutes a strict record of what was spoken by participants in a recording and as such:

• Includes all false starts, repetitions and filler words which would ordinarily be excluded in standard slightly edited transcription.
• Retains grammatically incorrect speaker idiosyncrasies.
• Excludes paralinguistic and nonverbal communication covered under conversational analysis.

Use/Application:

Often requested by clients who seek to undertake basic linguistic analysis of transcripts.

Example:

Interviewee:  The um fox — the — the quick brown fox jumps ah over the lazy dog.