In the context of the CHILDES and TalkBank projects, Brian MacWhinney and Leonid Spektor have developed the CLAN program which is free for download from http://childes.psy.cmu.edu. In collaboration with Johannes Wagner, we are currently improving the useability of CLAN for CA transcription and working to develop a larger database of transcripts appropriate for CA analysis.

Key features of CLAN include:

• free download of versions for either Mac or Windows from http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/clan
• free download of electronic manuals at http://childes.psy.cmu.edu for the programs, transcription format, and databases (but also please follow the "Ground Rules" listed there),
• full support for linkage to any media that can be played by Quicktime (.wav, .mp3, .mov, .mpg., .mp2, etc.),
• direct media playback from individual links or continuous playback with highlighting of active segments,
• four alternative methods of linking to media (Transcriber spacing, Sound Walker roll back, Sound wave highlighting, direct link editing),
• keyboard shortcuts to special CA symbols,
• automatic overlap alignment,
• programs for export and import from ELAN, EXMARaLDA, Praat, Phon, and SALT,
• export and import of sound clips to and from Praat
• output formatting in Classic CA format,
• a wide suite of programs for searching, coding, qualitative analysis, and quantitative analysis,
• format and program compatibility with the largest corpora of data on spoken language in CHILDES (44 million words) and TalkBank (55 million words). All data and media are freely downloadable; although the segment on language in aphasia is password protected