Slang, Speaker Dialect, and Abbreviations
Updated: 09/11/24
Slang
Transcribe all slang as you hear it.
Use your discretion as far as possible to balance readability and accuracy. If you really have to make a difficult choice, write the words out in the most clean way possible, to allow a third party to read and understand the transcript easily. However, it's useful to have the transcript reflect exactly what speakers are saying.
This is where we rely on your discretion to make the best choice, as there will likely be situations with multiple "correct" answers.
Parrot-approved spellings for contractions and shortened words:
- ‘cause (because)
- I’mma (I am going to)
- Whatchu / What’re you (either is acceptable based on what you hear) (what are you)
- Finna/Fixing to (going to)
- Gonna (going to)
- Wanna (want to)
- Gotta (got to)
- Kinda (kind of)
- Ain't (is not/are not)
- 'til (until)
NOTE: When transcribing the slang version of "because", always use 'cause (with an apostrophe) rather than "cuz." The apostrophe is crucial—without it, the word "cause" has an entirely different meaning!
NOTE: Up to reviewers discretion to not overuse, usually we want to capture all of the slang, but this oftentimes makes the transcript messy and unreadable. We are ideally looking for a balance between the two.
Speaker Dialect
- Slow the audio down using the speed toggle
- Listen to the sentence multiple times
- Use the context of the Exhibits and video to help make an educated guess
Parrot-approved spellings for regional or dialectal slang:
- Y'all (you all - common in Southern U.S. English)
- Eh (used at the end of sentences in Canadian English)
- Mate (friend - common in British and Australian English)
- Howdy (hello - common in Southern U.S. English)
- Aye (yes - common in Scottish and Northern English)
Here is the screenshot of the keyboard shortcuts that can be found on the bottom right hand side of your screen when you are in the platform:
Abbreviations
Unless it's the more common usage, write out the full version of words rather than abbreviating, unless you clearly hear the speaker using the abbreviated version.
If a speaker says the abbreviation, transcribe it as said. Let the principle of 'full verbatim' guide you. All in all, keep in mind the chapter on Verbatim Transcription - let your ears be the guide, rather than what you know as "more correct."
Some common examples of this include:
- “versus” rather than “vs”
- “Et cetera” rather than “etc”
- “Okay” rather than “ok”
- “All right” rather than “alright”
NOTE: This does not apply to titles such as: Dr., Mr., Mrs., and Ms. - here, the abbreviation is the common usage of the word, and is therefore perfectly fine to use.