An annotation scheme for complex disfluencies

In this paper, we present an annotation scheme for disfluencies. Unlike previous schemes, this scheme allows complex disfluencies with multiple backtracking points to be annotated, which are common in stuttered speech. The scheme specifies each disfluency in terms of word-level annotations, thus making the scheme useful for building sophisticated language models of disfluencies. As determining the annotation codes is quite difficult, we have developed a pen and paper procedure in which the annotator lines up the words into rows and columns, from which it is straight-forward for the annotator to determine the annotation tags.