Using language analysis in the determination of national origin of asylum seekers: an introduction

Applied Linguistics and Language Analysis in Asylum Seeker Cases

“…The extent to which governments are using this type of analysis is unclear. Eades and Arends (2004) document evidence which suggests escalation of its use in the Netherlands, and several linguists report an apparent escalation in other countries. This practice of linguistic identification has only recently been adopted by the UK and New Zealand governments.…”

“…9 During the appeal process, an asylum seeker's lawyer may seek an alternative expert opinion on the claims made in the original language analysis report. Sometimes called 'contra-analysis' (based on the Dutch 'contra-analyse', see Eades and Arends 2004), this expert evidence appears to be increasingly sought from trained linguists, although interpreters have been used in the recent past, at least in Australia (see Eades et al 2003). The Netherlands is possibly leading the world in terms of demands for linguistic contra-analysis in such cases.…”

“…The problematic assumption that an asylum seeker will speak only one language in the interview-'uncontaminated' by words or accent from another language variety-is strongly rooted in what Blommaert and Verschueren (1998) term 'homogeneism'-the widespread ideology that sees societies as characterized by a common language, and thus sees an individual as 'normally' monolingual and a member of one culture (as Eades and Arends (2004) point out). 11 This ideology of homogeneism is rampant in many societies around the world, and has a strong impact on many of the concerns of applied linguists, including bilingual and bidialectal education, language learning, approaches to interpreting and translation, and the workings of bilingualism in the legal system.…”

Determining the identity of ‘black Africans’ in UK population and health policy contexts: ethical issues and challenges

“…Much concern has been expressed by language scholars about the feasibility of determining national origins or country of origin by the analysis of language. Eades and colleagues (Eades, 2005(Eades, , 2009Eades & Arends, 2004) have challenged the assumption of a discrete one-to-one connection between an individual's 'own language' and his or her place of origin. Eades (2005) has written: 'The reports appear to ignore the possible effects on an asylum seeker's linguistic repertoire of movement of people between countries with porous borders, and of the diffusion of linguistic features during time in refugee camps'.…”

Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization

“…One that deserves to be highlighted was his work on the adequacy of the linguistic tools used in The Netherlands and worldwide to assess the origin claims of asylum-seekers. Concerned with the consequences of such forensic linguistic analyses, Jacques became increasingly involved in drawing the attention of both linguists and the public in general to the issue; in order to stimulate the involvement of professionals, he organized a dedicated workshop during the 2003 SPCL annual meeting and co-edited a section in a specialist journal (Eades and Arends 2004).…”