Qld: Language experts say speech analysis not valid
BRISBANE, April 2 AAP - Australian linguistic experts say using language analysis todetermine the nationality of asylum seekers is not valid and the problem could worsenafter the Iraq war.
Five experts, including three from the University of New England (UNE) in NSW, havecalled on the government to stop using language analysis after examining decisions madeby the Refugee Review Tribunal on whether asylum seekers were from Pakistan or Afghanistan.
Dr Helen Fraser, from the school of languages, cultures and linguistics at UNE, saidtoday while language analysis could be used to give evidence in relation to people's placeof origin, the way it was being used left the way open for mistakes.
A report prepared by the group said while people often believed that they could reliablyrecognise a speakers' place of origin from their use of particular words or pronunciation,this was a "folk-view", not always validated by linguistic research.
Dr Fraser said the system of sending tape recordings of interviews with asylum seekersto a Swedish agency for analysis was not being used properly in two ways.
"The people who are doing it are not fully qualified and secondly the particular regionthat the tests are being done about, in this case the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan,is not one where really many people at all would be qualified to do it," Dr Fraser said.
"That type of analysis leaves itself wide open to mistakes being made."
Dr Fraser said the analysis could have been done better in Australia and the governmentshould stop using the system until it had looked into it thoroughly.
She said the report had been set to the office of Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock.
"They haven't paid any attention so we are quite worried about that," she said.
AAP jfs/sc/cjh/jlw
KEYWORD: SPEECH
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