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Maze Definition
Mazes provide a major source of information about word and utterance formulation problems. A maze refers to any false start, repetition, or reformulation. It is marked by enclosure in parentheses. When maze words are removed from the utterance, the remaining words can stand by themselves. It is important to mark mazes so that they are not counted as part of the utterance. This excludes them from Mean Length of Utterance counts and other similar values. |
Repetitions and Revisions
Mark any repetition, false start, or reformulation as a maze and place it in parentheses. Parenthesize the section of the utterance that is repeated or revised. When you have a choice of what words or phrases to mark, parenthesize the earliest occasions as mazes. Consider the last occurrence of the word or phrase as the successful production. Incorrect maze analysis of repetitions and revisions will result if the first occurrence is not marked as the maze. Take a moment to look at these examples.
C And (you you) you can come.
C (And it almost and it) and it almost took her.
C (That/'s) this is the one.
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Filled Pauses
Words or vocalizations that fill in pauses should be placed in parentheses. Common fillers include "um", "eh", "ah" and "er". For example,
C And he (um) busted through the (um) window.
When filled pause words such as "um" and "uh" are spoken as an affirmation, negation or interrogation, do not place them in parentheses. For example,
C We bake/ed cookie/s.
E Um.
C Then we ate all of them. |
Part Words
Part words occur when a speaker fails to complete a word. This form is used to mark stuttering as well as part-word revisions. Use an asterisk to replace the portion of the word that is missing. Part words are usually treated as maze components and are parenthesized. For example,
C I saw the (b* b*) boy. stuttering
C I saw (hi*) them go. revision
C She said (this one/'s too h*) this one/'s too cold. revision |
Stuttering in the middle of a word
To mark stuttering in the middle of a word, separate the two parts of the word, before and after the stuttering, with underscore characters. For example,
C He ate a green ap_ (p* p*) _ple.
C He ate (an ap_ p* p* _ple) a green apple.
C I have Mr_ (s* s*) _Smith for math class. |
Adjacent Mazes
If different types of mazes are adjacent, it is recommended that you combine them in a single maze. This will allow consistency between your transcript and the SALT database transcripts. For example,
C He gave me (the book um the book) the book. |
Part Words at the end of an utterance
When the last word of an abandoned or interrupted utterance is a part word, use the asterisk to mark the part word but do not parenthesize it as it does not meet the definition of a maze. For example,
C Do you have a d*>
C I have to go home now. |
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