Language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) is an instrument used in asylum cases to determine the national or ethnic origin of the asylum seeker, through an evaluation of their language profile. To this end, an interview with the asylum seeker is recorded and analysed. The analysis consists of an examination of the dialectologically relevant features (e.g. accent, grammar, vocabulary and loanwords) in the speech of the asylum seeker. LADO is considered a type of speaker identification by forensic linguists.Peter M. Tiersma & Lawrence M. Solan (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 531. LADO analyses are usually made at the request of government immigration/asylum bureaux attempting to verify asylum claims, but may also be performed as part of the appeals process for claims which have been denied; they have frequently been the subject of appeals and litigation in several countries, e.g. Australia, the Netherlands and the UK.
Background A number of established linguistic approaches are considered to be valid methods of conducting LADO, including language variation and change,Patrick, Peter L. (2010). 'Language variation and LADO (Language Analysis for Determination of Origin).' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The role of language in European asylum procedures: A linguistic and legal survey, pp73-87. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers.JK Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes, eds. (2002). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell. forensic phonetics,Moosmüller, Sylvia. (2010). 'IAFPA position on language analysis in asylum procedures.' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The Role of Language in European Asylum Procedures: A Linguistic and Legal Survey, pp. 43–47. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers. dialectology, and language assessment.McNamara, Tim & Carsten Roever. (2006). Language testing: The social dimension. Oxford: Blackwell.
The underlying assumption leading to government immigration and asylum bureaux's use of LADO is that a link exists between a person's nationality and the way they speak. To linguists, this assumption is flawed: instead, research supports links between the family and community in which a person learns their native language, and enduring features of their way of speaking it. The notion that linguistic socialization into a speech community lies at the heart of LADO has been argued for by linguists since 2004,Language and National Origin Group. (2004). 'Guidelines for the Use of Language Analysis in relation to Questions of National Origin in Refugee Cases'. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 11(2): 261–266. and is now accepted by a range of government agencies (e.g. Switzerland,Baltisberger, Eric & Priska Hubbuch. (2010). 'LADO with specialized linguists: The development of Lingua's working method.' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The Role of Language in European Asylum Procedures: A Linguistic and Legal Survey, pp9-19. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers. NorwayUDI 2009. 'Specified requirements for language analysis for the Norwegian Immigration Administration.' Oslo: Utlendingsdirektoratet, July 2009), academic researchers (e.g. Eades 2009,Eades, Diana. (2009). 'Testing the claims of asylum seekers: The role of language analysis.' Language Assessment Quarterly 6: 30–40. Fraser 2011,Fraser, Helen. 2011. 'Language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO).' In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. Maryns 2006,Maryns, Katrijn. 2006. The asylum speaker: Language in the Belgian asylum procedure. Manchester: St. Jerome. and Patrick 2013Patrick, Peter L. (2013.) 'Asylum and language analysis.' In Susan K Brown & Frank D Bean (eds.), Encyclopedia of Migration. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.), as well as some commercial agencies, e.g. De Taalstudio, according to Verrips 2010Verrips, Maaike. (2010). 'Language analysis and contra-expertise in the Dutch asylum procedure.' International Journal of Speech, Language & the Law 17(2): 279–294.).
Use Since the mid-1990s, language analysis has been used to help determine the geographical origin of asylum seekers by the governments of a growing number of countries (Reath, 2004),Reath, A. (2004). 'Language analysis in the context of the asylum process: Procedures, validity, and consequences.' Language Assessment Quarterly: 1–4, 209–233. now including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Pilots have been conducted by the UK, Ireland, and Norway.UDI 2009. 'Specified requirements for language analysis for the Norwegian Immigration Administration.' Oslo: Utlendingsdirektoratet, July 2009. https://www.udiregelverk.no/Global/Images/Rettskilder/Rundskriv/RS%202011%20023/RS%202011%20023V5.pdf The UK legitimised the process in 2003; it has subsequently been criticised by immigration lawyers (see response by the Immigration Law Practitioners' AssociationIPA April 2009. 'Response to the UK Border Agency "NAM+ Asylum Programme" presentation to the National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF) on 19 March 2009' http://www.docstoc.com/docs/44362029/Response-to-the-UK-Border-Agency-NAM-Asylum-Programme), and also Craig 2012Craig, Sarah. 2012. The use of language in asylum decision-making in the UK – a discussion. Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law 26(3): 255–268. Oxford University Press: Westlaw.); and social scientists (e.g. Campbell 2013Campbell, John. (2013.) 'Language analysis in the United Kingdom's Refugee Status Determination system: Seeing through policy claims about 'expert knowledge'.' Ethnic and Racial Studies 36(4): 670–690.), as well as linguists (e.g. Patrick 2011Patrick, Peter L. (2011.) 'Key problems in language analysis for the determination of origin.' Plenary address to the International Association of Forensic Linguistics 10th Biennial conference at Aston University (July 2011). http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/papers/IAFL10plenary_July2011.pdf).
In the Netherlands LADO is commissioned by the Dutch Immigration Service (IND). Language analysis is used by the IND in cases where asylum seekers cannot produce valid identification documents, and, in addition, the IND sees reason to doubt the claimed origin of the asylum seeker. The IND has a specialised unit (Bureau Land en Taal, or BLT; in English, the Office for Country Information and Language Analysis, or OCILA) that carries out these analyses. Challenges to BLT analyses are provided by De Taalstudio, a private company that provides language analysis and contra-expertise in LADO cases. Claims and criticisms regarding the Dutch LADO processes are discussed by Cambier-Langeveld (2010),Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2010.) 'The validity of language analysis in the Netherlands.' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The Role of Language in European Asylum Procedures: A Linguistic and Legal Survey, pp. 21–33. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers. the senior linguist for BLT/OCILA, and by Verrips 2010,Verrips, Maaike. (2010.) 'Language analysis and contra-expertise in the Dutch asylum procedure.' International Journal of Speech, Language & the Law 17(2): 279–294. the founder of De Taalstudio. Zwaan (2008,Zwaan, Karin (ed). (2008). De taalanalyse in de Nederlandse asielprocedure. Een juridische en linguïstische verkenning. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers. 2010Zwaan, Karin. (2010.) 'Dutch court decisions and language analysis for the determination of origin.' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The Role of Language in European Asylum Procedures: A Linguistic and Legal Survey, pp. 43–47. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers.) reviews the legal situation.
LADO reports are provided to governments in a number of ways: by their own regularly-employed linguists and/or freelance analysts; by independent academic experts; by commercial firms; or by a mixture of the above. In Switzerland language analysis is carried out by LINGUA, a specialized unit of the Federal Office for Migration, which both employs linguists and retains independent experts from around the world. The German and Austrian bureaux commission reports primarily from experts within their own countries. The UK and a number of other countries have commercial contracts with providers such as the Swedish firms Sprakab and Verified both of which have carried out language analyses for UK Visas and Immigration (formerly UK Border Agency) and for the Dutch Immigration Service, as well as other countries around the world.
Language analysts It is widely agreed that language analysis should be done by language experts. Two basic types of practitioners commonly involved in LADO can be distinguished: trained native speakers of the language under analysis, and professional linguists specialized in the language under analysis. Usually native speaker analysts are free-lance employees who are said to be under the supervision of a qualified linguist. When such analysts lack academic training in linguistics, it has been questioned whether they should be accorded the status of 'experts' by asylum tribunals, e.g. by Patrick (2012),Patrick, Peter L. (2012.) 'Language analysis for determination of origin: Objective evidence for refugee status determination.' Chapter 38 in Peter M. Tiersma & Lawrence M. Solan (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 544 who refers to them instead as "non-expert native speakers (NENSs)". Eades et al. (2003) note that "people who have studied linguistics to professional levels [...] have particular knowledge which is not available to either ordinary speakers or specialists in other disciplines".Eades, D., H. Fraser, J. Siegel, T. McNamara & B. Baker. (2003.) 'Linguistic identification in the determination of nationality: A preliminary report.' Language Policy 2: 179–199. Likewise Dikker and Verrips (2004)Dikker, S. & Verrips, M. (2004.) 'Taalanalyse: een vak apart.' Onderzoeksrapport. Monnickendam: De Taalstudio. conclude that native speakers who lack training in linguistics are not able to formulate reliable conclusions regarding the origin of other speakers of their language. The nature of the training which commercial firms and government bureaux provide to their analysts has been questioned in academic and legal arenas, but few specifics have been provided to date; see however accounts by the Swiss agency LinguaBaltisberger, Eric & Priska Hubbuch. (2010.) 'LADO with specialized linguists: The development of Lingua's working method.' In K Zwaan, P Muysken & M Verrips, eds., Language and Origin. The Role of Language in European Asylum Procedures: A Linguistic and Legal Survey, pp9-19. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers. and Cambier-Langeveld of BLT/OCILA,Cambier-Langeveld, T. (2010.) 'The role of linguists and native speakers in language analysis for the determination of speaker origin.' International Journal of Speech, Language & the Law 17(1): 67–93 as well as responses to the latter by Fraser Fraser, Helen. (2011.) 'The role of linguists and native speakers in language analysis for the determination of speaker origin: A response to Tina Cambier-Langeveld.' International Journal of Speech, Language & the Law 18(1): 121–130. and Verrips.Verrips, Maaike. (2011.) 'LADO and the pressure to draw strong conclusions: A response to Tina Cambier-Langeveld.' International Journal of Speech, Language & the Law 18(1): 131–143.