Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin (LADO)

Abstract

Language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) is a relatively new branch of applied linguistics. Generally considered a forensic application, it is used by governments to assess asylum seekers applying for refugee status. The United Nations' 1951 Geneva Convention defines a refugee as a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted in their home country for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. Asylum seekers who arrive in a country which signed the Geneva Convention, and are able to demonstrate such a well-founded fear, can claim the status of refugee, giving them rights of immigration to that country. Since many asylum seekers, for a variety of reasons, arrive without reliable identity papers, the first task of immigration authorities is to determine whether applicants' claims are valid, or whether they may be misrepresenting their identity in order to gain entry to the country. To aid in this determination, applicants are interviewed to test their knowledge of the language, culture, and region of the persecuted group they claim to belong to (European Union, 2008). In some cases, their speech is analyzed to determine whether it shows features of the specific language variety of the claimed group. This last procedure is LADO.