Keyboard shortcut to switch between tiers

ELAN
1

Hi,

I’m new here, so please let me know if there’s a better place to ask this question.

I’m just starting with Elan. I have some linguistic field elicitation recordings that I’d like to transcribe. The recordings have multiple speakers, and I’d like to mark which speaker is which in the transcription. At the moment, all I’m recording is the transcription. Eventually, I’ll likely add other annotations for some portions of the audio.

I’m trying to set up an efficient workflow where everything can be down using only the keyboard. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out a way to switch between tiers using the keyboard. I have one tier set up per speaker, and when a speaker is talking, I’d like to add an annotation for that speaker in their respective tier. Thus far the only way I’ve been able to do so is by double-clicking on the respective tier.

Just to be clear, my desired workflow is as follows:

  • Load an audio file, add one tier per speaker
  • Start listening to the audio file, using keyboard shortcuts to start and stop the audio
  • After pausing the audio, create an annotation for that speaker in that speaker’s tier (using only keyboard shortcuts to create the annotation in the correct tier)
  • Re-start the audio at that point, and continue this process.

The up and down buttons in the UI (and the corresponding key shortcuts) don’t appear to do anything. FWIW, I’m in Annotation Mode.

Thanks,
Lane

2

Hi,

The default keyboard shortcuts for changing the active tier (as it is referred to in ELAN) are Control+Up Arrow and Control+Down Arrow. The most extensive overview of available keyboard shortcuts can be found in the program itself via View->Shortcuts… You can change shortcuts via Edit->Preferences->Edit Shortcuts…

The Up and Down buttons you mention are, I assume, the buttons and shortcuts for activating annotations. The active annotation is the one annotation marked in dark blue, the annotation keyboard actions operate on. If you have annotations Alt+Up/Down/Right/Left should activate the closest annotation on the tier above or below, or the annotation to the left or right on the same tier as the current annotation.

I’m not sure if you already considered that, but the first step of your workflow could probably be improved by using a template with tiers for a number of speakers predefined. Then you don’t have to add tiers every time you start a new transcription. If you haven’t considered this yet, maybe have a look at the template section of the manual (currently: here) and maybe have a look at templates shared by others on the ELAN third party resources page.

-Han