EXMARaLDA

EXMARaLDA (Extensible Markup Language for Discourse Annotation) is a software suite and XML-based format designed for the transcription and annotation of spoken language data. Developed primarily at the University of Hamburg, Germany, it provides tools and a standardized schema for representing and analyzing spoken interaction, including conversations, interviews, and other types of audio and video recordings.

EXMARaLDA encompasses a variety of components, including:

• Transcription Editor: A graphical user interface for transcribing audio and video recordings, allowing users to segment speech into turns, add timestamps, and input orthographic transcriptions.

• Partitur Editor: A tool for creating and editing layered annotations, often referred to as "tiers," which can be used to represent various levels of linguistic analysis, such as phonetic transcriptions, morphological information, syntactic structure, discourse markers, or gestural information. These tiers can be aligned to the transcribed speech.

• Converter: A utility for converting between different transcription formats, including EXMARaLDA's own XML format and other common formats.

The core of EXMARaLDA is its XML schema, which provides a structured framework for representing transcribed data and annotations. This standardized format allows for interoperability between different research groups and tools, facilitating the sharing and reuse of annotated data. The XML structure utilizes elements and attributes to encode information about speakers, turns, segments, and annotations.

EXMARaLDA's primary focus is on providing a comprehensive system for the detailed annotation of spoken language. It is widely used in fields such as conversation analysis, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, phonetics, and language acquisition research. Its flexibility and open-source nature have contributed to its adoption by researchers around the world.