Language Sample Analysis With TalkBank: An Update and Review
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This chapter examines state-of-the-art methods for coding, analyzing, and interpreting discourse-level language data from children and adults with language disorders using the data, tools, and methods provided by the TalkBank system (https://www.talkbank.org). These open and free methods have been used for language sample analysis (LSA) with several clinical populations (e.g., child language disorders, stuttering, aphasia, dementia, traumatic brain injury, right hemisphere brain damage), as well as with control participants without communication impairments. We review the six core principles guiding TalkBank, the current shape of the 15 TalkBank databanks, and the different analytic tools provided by TalkBank. We examine automatic TalkBank methods that use ASR (automatic speech recognition), NLP (natural language processing), database technology, statistics in R and Python, and ML (machine learning). The specific tools include corpus analysis methods, LSA profiling systems, online database searches through TalkBank, online browsing through transcripts linked to media, and a new system for online collaborative commentary. These systems provide multimedia access to transcripts from a wide variety of participants with and without language disorders.
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LSA is an exhaustive and ecologically valid method for assessing language impairments with a wide range of clinical and research applications.
“LSA is an exhaustive and ecologically valid method for assessing language impairments with a wide range of clinical and research applications (MacWhinney & Fromm, 2022).”
From Early Identification of Language Disorders Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning: Challenges and Emerging Approaches (2025) · cites this paper as MacWhinney & Fromm, 2022
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- Authors
- MacWhinney, B., & Fromm, D.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Corresponding author
- MacWhinney, Brian
- Venue
- Frontiers in Communication
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-04-27
- Volume
- 7
- ISSN
- 2297-900X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4298056709
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 6.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Voice and Speech Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Stuttering Research and Treatment
- Keywords
- TalkBank, language sample analysis, language disorders, language disorders in children, stuttering, aphasia, dementia, traumatic brain injury, right hemisphere damage, speech recognition, natural language processing, corpus analysis
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