(These symbols are from a system developed by Gail Jefferson; see J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage (eds). 1984. Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. pp. ix–xvi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)

[] Brackets indicate overlapping utterances. 
= Equal marks indicate contiguous utterances or continuation of the same utterance to the next line. 
( . ) Period within parentheses indicates micropause. 
(2.0) Indicates timed pause in approximate seconds. 
ye:s Colon indicates stretching of sound it follows. 
yes. Period indicates falling intonation. 
yes, Comma indicates relatively constant intonation. 
yes? Question mark indicates upward intonation. 
yes! Exclamation indicates animated tone. 
yes‐ Single dash indicates abrupt sound cutoff. 
yes Underlining indicates emphasis. 
YES Capital letters indicate increased volume. 
°yes° Degree marks indicate decreased volume of materials between. 
hhh Hs indicate audible aspiration, possibly laughter. 
•hhh Superscript period indicates inbreath audible aspiration, possibly laughter. 
ye(hh)s Hs within parentheses indicate within‐speech aspiration, possibly laughter. 
((cough)) Items within double parentheses indicate some sound or feature of the talk that is not easily transcribable, e.g. “((in falsetto)).” 
(yes) Parentheses indicate transcriber doubt about hearing of passage. 
↓yes ↑yes Arrow indicates marked change in intonation. 
£yes£ Pound signs indicate “smile voice” delivery of materials in between. 
[] Brackets indicate overlapping utterances. 
= Equal marks indicate contiguous utterances or continuation of the same utterance to the next line. 
( . ) Period within parentheses indicates micropause. 
(2.0) Indicates timed pause in approximate seconds. 
ye:s Colon indicates stretching of sound it follows. 
yes. Period indicates falling intonation. 
yes, Comma indicates relatively constant intonation. 
yes? Question mark indicates upward intonation. 
yes! Exclamation indicates animated tone. 
yes‐ Single dash indicates abrupt sound cutoff. 
yes Underlining indicates emphasis. 
YES Capital letters indicate increased volume. 
°yes° Degree marks indicate decreased volume of materials between. 
hhh Hs indicate audible aspiration, possibly laughter. 
•hhh Superscript period indicates inbreath audible aspiration, possibly laughter. 
ye(hh)s Hs within parentheses indicate within‐speech aspiration, possibly laughter. 
((cough)) Items within double parentheses indicate some sound or feature of the talk that is not easily transcribable, e.g. “((in falsetto)).” 
(yes) Parentheses indicate transcriber doubt about hearing of passage. 
↓yes ↑yes Arrow indicates marked change in intonation. 
£yes£ Pound signs indicate “smile voice” delivery of materials in between. 
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© 2010 President and Fellows of Harvard College. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
2010
President and Fellows of Harvard College
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