Such as a court stenographer or someone transcribing an important speech or such.
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U.S. legal transcriptionist here. It varies per transcribing firm, but for my contract, if it’s actual gibberish, it gets a legal dash in the transcript.
Q So what happened upon impact?
A (spoken) Well I heard this screech, like EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. And then …
.
.
(transcribed) Well I heard this screech, like — and then …
Ideally someone will say, “unfortunately, the digital reporter can only transcribe words, but I understand it was a loud squealing. Is that right?”
When I transcribed recoded statements for insurance carriers, we’d put a notation in that the person made a sound, so it definitely varies.
When shit is truly unintelligible it gets notated. Folks trip over their tongues a lot and partially start words or combine them. Attorneys and witnesses in equal measure on that 🤣
Edited: formatting on mobile.
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