From Expertise to Advocacy: Forensic Linguistics and Advocacy in Asylum Seeker Cases

In order to test nationality claims of undocumented asylum seekers, a number of governments are using 'language analysis,' based on the assumption that the way that a person speaks contains clues about their origins. While linguists would not dispute this assumption, they are disputing a number of other assumptions, as well as practices, involved in this form of linguistic identification. This paper presents recent developments in this area of forensic linguistics, focusing specifically on the release of Guidelines by a group of linguists concerning the use of language analysis in such asylum seeker cases. It concludes with a brief discussion about challenges for linguists who move beyond expertise in individual cases and/or scholarly research to engage in 'expert advocacy.'