Berkeley Transciption System (BTS) for signed languages

[Dan I. SLOBIN]

Here is another option for transcribing sign language data--at the levels
of meaning components, signs, nonmanuals, and utterances:

The Berkeley Transcription System (BTS) is designed for computer-based
transcription and analysis of sign language discourse, following the
guidelines of CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System).
Transcription is at the level of meaning components, both manual and
nonmanual, using ASCII characters.  The format is consistent with CHAT,
allowing for analysis using CLAN programs.  BTS has been developed on the
basis of videotapes of adult-child interaction in American Sign Language
and Sign Language of the Netherlands, in consultation with native signers,
linguists, and psycholinguists, and with support from the National Science
Foundation.  Dutch and German versions are also available.  There is a
website for BTS:  www.colorado.edu/slhs/btsweb. The BTS Manual can be
found there, as well as on the CHILDES website: http://childes/psy.cmu.edu
(look under the CHAT heading, for either Mac or Windows; BTS is Chapter 11
of the CHAT Manual).  We will be happy to send the current BTS Manual, as
well as an article describing the rationale of BTS (to be published by the
journal Sign Language & Linguistics).  Please e-mail a request to Amy
Weinberg: amw at uclink4.berkeley.edu.  We look forward to international
collaboration in improving the system and applying it to new research
projects and sign languages.

Dan Slobin
University of California, Berkeley

Nini Hoiting
Royal Institute for the Deaf "H. D. Guyot"
Haren, The Netherlands