Presentation Transcript

1. Language TESTING ofAsylum SEEKERS

   Prof. Peter L. Patrick Dept. of Language & Linguistics and Human Rights Centre University of Essex 17 Sept 2011 Language Day Conference for Teachers
2. Outline of the talk Asylum – a social and human rights problem… …Thus, a problem for governments A possible linguistic solution… but, does it work? What do we know about languages? So, who is a language expert? Involvement of the linguistics profession What can actually be achieved? Please ask Questions at ANY POINT
3. Pressure to Manage Asylum Flow Government concern for borders, control over population, spread of conflict, economic selfishness of Haves, the desire to regulate economic migration, leads to… Attempt to manage/reduce flow of asylum seekers, Selectively discriminate the categories & outcomes. Search for way to serve these interests leads to (among many other trends, policies, procedures) a range of gate-keeping devices
4. Gate-keeping to Manage AS Flow Gate-keeping mechanisms employed by govts. to assess claims of origin, weed out false ones Performed in context of general governmental and public disbelief or hostility to immigration & refugees – . UKBA “culture of hostility” Eg, belief most are economically motivated as opposed to motivated by ‘well-founded fear of being persecuted’ Bureaucratic pressures of cost, time, policy, caseload; judged on efficiency, quantity (& results...), perception Effort to draft in the sciences to perform GK tasks
5. What evidence have we got? An asylum seeker who lacks documents presents two main types of evidence: Her body Medical/physical evidence Her story Linguistic evidence Incl. all interviews, recordings, statements, texts in process How does one assesssuch linguistic evidence? What factors influence its production and use? Who is qualified to performassessment? Who does so? What do RSD stakeholders need to know in order to commission, evaluate & reliably use valid evidence?
6. Types of Gate-Keeping Physical: Fingerprints: -- DNA: Social/linguistic: Incl. LADO
7. Use of Gate-keeping Tools Tools for interpreting/ascribing identity, including selective equation of language w/national identity …in order to assess AS claims of origin, confirm true ones, and weed out false ones. Language assessment of asylum seekers: LADO (Language Analysis for Determination of Origin) (focus may be national, regionalor ethnic origin) Motivating assumption seems plausible to laypeople: “Language reflects Citizenship” – “Linguistic Passport” But: How valid and reliable is it, scientifically?
8. Who performs LADO for Govts.? Varies widely from one jurisdiction to another Mediterranean nations do not use it: Spain, France, Italy, Greece Swiss, Germans/Austria use (mostly) independent academic experts Dutch BLT have own analysts, but buy from commercial agencies too UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden have all used commercial analysis firms, e.g. Eqvator (formerly) – SkandinaviskSpråkanalysis(=Sprakab) – Verified Swedish bureau spun off company in 1990s – sold expertise back to government, then other EU governments, then further afield Firms compete re contracts: business pressure on product offered Employ few linguists (w/BA, MA qualifications) but many analysts (most NENS) who conduct LADO cases w/supervision by linguists
9. Who is unqualified to perform LADO? : Non-linguist language professionals Spoken-word interpreters or translatorsof written word May be trained, but little/no linguistics, rarely do research Students of “foreign” languagesat university/elsewhere Typically no linguistic analytic or comparative training Rarely any formal training in ‘exotic’/unwritten languages, hence no standards exist for knowledge of such languages Native speakersof exotic or un(der)-studied languages Any university degree-level study of language usually = literary not scientific, text not speech, no comparative scientific base Such persons can be classed as NENS, Non-Expert Native Speakers rather than expert linguists in view of (Shuy 2009) “the definition of a linguist as a scholar who is highly trained and deeply involved in the scientific study of language”
10. ‘Language analysis’ requires expertise in Linguistics Scientific, comparative study of language systems Structure of sounds, words, grammar, meaning Study the range of human languages to discover: What elements are necessary/possible in human language? In which ways can they be organized into systems? How language changes, is learned, come in contact, disappear How speakers manipulate system/elements for social function “Linguist” has both folkandexpertsenses: Untrained person who speaks several languages? ☒ Specialist w/postgraduate training in linguistic science ☑
11. What Linguists Do and Are Analyse elements & structures of recorded speech data Identify them as organised into recognized systems – languages/dialects described in the scientific literature Familiar w/contact processes between languages (not random, but according to empirically-studied principles) Professional training meanspostgraduate specialization in accredited institution by research-active scholars... Experts w/knowledge based in literature, own research on 1 or more languages (besides native ones, usually)... Contribute to scientific knowledge: present research at open conferences, publications reviewed by peers, etc.
12. What is Sociolinguistics? Comparative study of speech communities, linguistic practices, and social ecologies of language Sociolinguists≠ HR practitioners, interpreters, lawyers – and these professionals, of course, are not usually linguists Sociolinguists professionally involved w/ issues such as language endangerment, esp. preservation/revitalization language planning, at academic, govt/local/NGO levels forensic, clinical, and other institution-based linguistics bilingual education &other school-centred language issues action research with urban linguistic minorities discourse analysis of talk by powerful/vulnerable speakers ethnolinguistic work w/indigenous peoples, & much more...
13. What Languages are Involved? Linguistics studies alllanguages – c. 6,900 in world 234 European languages: English, French, German etc. 3% of world’s languages, 26% of speakers, avg. 6.6 million 2,100 African: Niger-Congo (1,500), Afro-Asiatic (350) 30% of languages, 12% of speakers, avg. <350,000/lang. 2,300 Asian: Sino-Tibetan (450), Austronesian (1,200) 33% of languages, 60% of speakers, avg. 1.5 million/lang. Largest: Chinese (1.2b), Spanish, English (330m), Arabic LADO: Somali (13m), Pashto (9.7), Tigrinya (5.7), Rohingya (1.5)
14. What Languages are Involved? Linguistics studies alllanguages – c. 6,900 in world 234 European languages: English, French, German etc. 3% of world’s languages, 26% of speakers, avg. 6.6 million 2,100 African: Niger-Congo (1,500), Afro-Asiatic (350) 30% of languages, 12% of speakers, avg. <350,000/lang. 2,300 Asian: Sino-Tibetan (450), Austronesian (1,200) 33% of languages, 60% of speakers, avg. 1.5 million/lang. Largest: Chinese (1.2b), Spanish, English (330m), Arabic LADO: Somali (13m), Pashto (9.7), Tigrinya (5.7), Rohingya (1.5)
15. Which languages relevant to LADO? LADO: usually smaller, regional/ethnic dialects E.g. minority clans in Somalia (Reer-Hamar, Ashraf) Often spoken across borders, not just within them E.g. Mandingo: Senegal, Mali, Guinea, S. Leone, Liberia Often unwritten for most speakers til very recently Many unstudied, or little detail known about them No standard tests for assessing speakers’ knowledge Handful of experts in each country, or the world
16. Some Next Steps Develop international scientific agreement over key issues Involve colleagues and public by raising basic science issues Convince UKIAT (via courts) to rely only on qualified expertise, by Unifying the standards with (civil and) criminal requirements, Thus making bad science less common and acceptable in court Press commercial applications to raise/adopt scientific standards Innovate methods/technology to lower costs of good science Develop secure, scientific research base against which expertise can be established, by commissioning new appliedresearch Expand reference database to focus on refugee-producing areas
17. Contact Info My Email: patrickp@essex.ac.uk Homepage: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp Dept. of Language & Linguistics: www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics Human Rights Centre: www.essex.ac.uk/human_rights_centre
18. 2004 Guidelines for best practice 2004: Guidelines for use of language analysis in relation to questions of national origin in asylum cases(Lang Nat Origin Group) 19 coauthors/signers from Africa, Europe, Australia, USA 17 PhDs, over half with 1st-hand forensic experience in RSD context Published in 2 peer-reviewed linguistic journals, UNHCR RefWorld Main principles include: LADO must be done by qualified linguists – proof of expertise Caution in rendering opinions – degree of certainty Knowledge of native speakers ≠expertiseof linguists Linguists to determine/advise on data quality for LADO Other issues: cross-border, language mixing, 2nd-language LADO... Now cited in courts from UK to Pacific, influences govt. practices