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CLAN

Brief description

CLAN (which stands for Computerized Language ANalysis) is a program that has been developed for the analysis of data transcribed in the so-called CHILDES format. This format is mostly used for text corpora with data in the field of language acquisition. CLAN consists of two components. The first is the CLAN-editor, which can be used to edit files in CHAT and Conversation Analysis (CA) formats. The editor has audio and video playback, audio and video linking and data annotation functionality. The second component of CLAN is a large number of programs for the analysis of CHILDES data, such as frequency counting, search (for certain words or word combinations, for example), co-occurence analysis, morphosyntactic analysis, interactional analysis and MLU counting.

Manuals

Clan Manual
This manual includes a detailed guide on how to use CLAN and also has a number of exercises.

CLAN programs
Short explanation about CLAN programmes by Jacqueline van Kampen (Utrecht University).

Availability

Clan is available on VU PCs for students and staff members of the Department of Language, Literature and Communication of the Faculty of Humanities.
For home use, a free download is available on the website of the CHILDES project. Note: The program is available for Windows (For XP and later versions) and Mac OS X.

More information on CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System)

CHILDES project website

MacWhinney, B. (1991). The CHILDES project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.