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The aim of this paper is to describe a version of the CHAT (Codes for the Human Analysis of Transcripts) transcription format developed with the purpose of enabling open-access to the PerLA corpus of language pathologies through the Talkbank International Database. In doing so, adapting PerLA to a transcription and coding format compatible with CLAN (Computerized Language ANalysis) software for automatic language analysis was required. However, CHAT conventions are not compulsory, but they allow for a wide range of variations depending on the nature of data, the scope of the study for which the data have been collected, and the kind of phenomena that are considered relevant for coding. The adaptation offered here has been envisaged to allow the transcription and coding of data showing a wide variety of language and communication disorders, in order to carry out further studies from a pragmatic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we will examine three aspects of communicative immediacy in eighteenth century documents from the Diachronic Corpus of Spanish in the Kingdom of Granada (CORDEREGRA): the use of -ico, -illo and -ito, the variation diferiencia/diferencia, osted/usted and defunto/difunto, and the loss of /d/. We want to emphasise three methodological aspects in the study of orality: the importance of a control corpus, the problems that CORDE has for the historical study of colloquial Spanish and the value of the current sociolinguistic data to interpret the history of a language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammar studies have focused lately on speech instead of on written language, being the latter the most traditional approach. This situation confronts us with the necessity of a new definition for some grammar concepts. This paper proposes a new definition for the concept of sentence so that it can be used for spoken Spanish analysis. Already existing definitions are evaluated and discarded because they do not fit with many normal speech structures. Besides, they usually are confusing regarding syntactic, prosodic and pragmatic features. We propose a new definition only based on grammar and semantic features. Conclusions show that this approach allows the syntactic analysis of speech in a much more accurate way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at describing a tool designed for XML (eXtensible Markup Language) automatic transformation from spoken corpus documents transcribed following different standards of encoding. Procedures proposed for transformation are based on XML tools and recommendations, as DOM (Document Object Model) and XSTL (XSL Transformation). The aim is to facilitate homogenisation of spoken corpora and enhance reusability and integration in macro-corpora. The main concern is reusability of corpora built during the last two decades (with special attention to PRESEEA corpuses) using automatic procedures. Once transformed into XML documents, these texts will be more quickly and easily treated (segmentation, sound/text alignment, etc.). PRESEEA is an international project on the spoken Spanish from towns and cities in Spain and America. To attain this objective three levels of density (friendliness) of transcription are defined and their respective protocols of interchange are proposed. To show how this tool works, the application of an algorithm of transformation is step by step described showing how it proceeds, firstly, transforming the source document into a valid XML document close to the original and, secondly, through a set of consecutive depuration filters, producing a final XML valid document. To show the use and application of this tool, excerpts of documents taken from spoken corpora from PRESEEA-Project have been selected. Finally, an online tool () has been implemented to allow researchers to easily transform their own texts into XML documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is it that characterizes adolescents' small talk? Adolescent language is often accused of being sloppy, that is, not only badly articulated or vague, often with cut-off sentences, but also full of slang, taboo and swear words, and not least sprinkled with unnecessary pragmatic markers. As highlighted in the recently collected corpus, Madrid adolescents' small talk has similar characteristics, represented, for instance, by the frequent vagueness marker "y eso," the pragmatic marker "en plan," and the slang intensifier "mazo." It is also characterized by an abundant use of contact-creating expressions, both in the form of contact-checking tags such as "eh" and "no" and, in particular, vocatives such as "tía" and "tronco." But all these devices are used for a purpose. In addition to facilitating and keeping the conversation going, they are used to involve the listeners and create rapport between speaker and listener. In other words, besides the strategic discourse function, they have a strong social and bonding effect. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the use of these strategies leads to a successful outcome of small talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of interjections in relation to the concept of (im)politeness as a function designed to establish a social image both for the speaker and interlocutor. The activities will more or less be carried out according to their discursive needs. This study focuses on television debate. The corpus of the research consists of recordings of different programs which more or less follow a debate structure. The interjection is a resource that guarantees the maximum efficiency of strategies of (im)politeness. It shows the speaker's attitude and intention and expresses them not as objects of speech, but as origin of the speech itself. Thus, it contributes to the discourse with great efficiency as much in a negative as in a positive sense. In this work, I try to prove that the interjection is used as an affiliation activity process in a few contexts and autonomy activity in others, or even both simultaneously, depending on filters of (im)politeness such as the topic, time slot, participants, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]