combination of different codes in the commands window?

[Sabrina Geyer]

Dear all,

I have a question concerning some tools of the CLAN programs. I've been reading the manual, but couldn't find an answer so I hope that someone of you could help me to solve my problem.

I would like to combine different codes I've created so that I can see how often the combination of several codes relating to the same utterance occur in my data. For now, I'm not sure if this is possible - if this is the case, I have no idea how to realise this in the commands window of CLAN.

To be sure that you understand me correctly I'd like to give you an example: Among other things, I'd like to analyse how caretakers react to different ill-formed utterances of children they interact with. To categorise the different errors of the children I created the line "%err" with several subcodes. To categorise the caretaker's reaction I created the line "%rea" with different subcodes. I’d now like to see whether the caretakers in my data react differently to different errors the children make.

Does CLAN offer any possibility to do this without unifying the two codes in one?

Thank you for your help!
Best wishes,
Sabrina

[Brian MacWhinney]

Dear Sabrina,

     It would actually be a bit easier if you developed a coding system that put everything on a single line.  You can read Chapter 6 of the CLAN manual about how to use Coder Mode to do this, and chapter 14 of the CHAT manual described the INCA coding system of Ninio and Wheeler that exemplifies the approach.  In your case, for example there would be codes such as $err:*  and $rea:*  that characterize the errors and the responses.  The asterisk indicates some further levels of the coding system you might create.   You can then use KWAL search patterns to track combination of errors and reactions.  

    This can also be done, as you suggest by simply merging the two types of information into single codes, again within the general framework of systems such as INCA.  Actually, I think that is the most straightforward approach.

    You may feel that it is necessary to separate this information so that errors are coded for the child and reactions for the adult.  In that case, you can create more complex search strings using cross-tier COMBO, as described in section 9.4.4 and 9.4.5 of the CLAN manual.

Best regards,

— Brian MacWhinney

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[Leonid Spektor]

Sabrina,

Do you always have the same number of error codes/sub-codes per each %err: tier as number of reaction codes per corresponding %rea: tier? Do the codes on both tiers align, in other words does the first code on %rea: tier always goes with the first code on the %err tier and the second code on %rea: tier always goes with the second code on the %err tier and so on? if the codes are not aligned or there more or less codes on %err: than on %rea: tier, then I would recommend to use KWAL command to search for a particular code on %err: tier and include the %rea: tier in the output. For example, assuming that your %err: and %rea: codes start with “$” then try command:

kwal +t%err +s$err_code +o%rea:

If you know both %err: codes and corresponding %rea: codes, then try COMBO command:

combo +g5 +s$err_code^*^$rea_code +t%err +t%rea: 

Leonid.

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[Sabrina Geyer]

Dear Brian, dear Leonid,

thank you for your very helpful and detailed answer!! I checked the Manual and tried out COMBO - It works and was exactly what I needed!

Thank you very much!
best wishes,
Sabrina