Language analysis for the determination of origin
SILA Linguists® is a leading provider of Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin (LADO) across the UK, North America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. Our native-speaker forensic linguists deliver rigorous, culturally informed reports for asylum, immigration, legal and security cases.
Our record: none of our LADO reports has ever been successfully challenged.
What LADO is
Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin (LADO) examines recorded speech for features linked to particular regions or communities.
In a LADO analysis, a specialist analyst listens to recorded speech and examines features that vary from place to place: accent, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and local expressions. These features are compared with known language varieties to assess how closely the speaker's language matches a particular region or country.
The work can involve telling apart closely related varieties, for example Moroccan and Algerian Arabic, or different Somali dialects, through small differences in pronunciation and word choice.
How an analysis is carried out
The analyst reviews the audio, such as an interview recording, and transcribes it with attention to dialect features. The methods come from forensic phonetics, dialectology and sociolinguistics: listening for vowel quality, consonants, intonation and stress, and analysing words, idioms and grammar. Where it helps, analysts also use acoustic measurement software.
Our analysts weigh the speaker's stated origin against other plausible origins, and take account of the speaker's background, for example time spent in other countries or contact with other language communities. Each step of the reasoning is documented in the report.
When LADO is used
LADO is an established forensic linguistic process in asylum and immigration procedures. Our reports are written to the standards that decision-makers, courts and tribunals expect, in the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Reports are usually requested when a person's stated origin is in doubt, often because identity documents are missing, fraudulent or unclear. They may also be used in appeals: representatives can put a report forward in UK asylum appeals, in US immigration court proceedings, in Canadian immigration and refugee proceedings and in immigration matters in Australia and New Zealand. A report can corroborate or call into question a claimed nationality or ethnic background, distinguish closely related dialects, and help identify where a speaker in a security recording is likely to come from.
Professional standards
In the UK, a 2010 tribunal ruling emphasised that reports by native-speaker analysts with expert supervision should be given significant weight, while earlier methods relying on untrained listeners or incomplete transcripts were found unreliable. SILA Linguists® follows the highest forensic standards and recognised professional codes of practice for forensic speech and language analysis. Every analyst is qualified, experienced and impartial, and keeps their regional knowledge up to date.
Language analysis for age assessment (LADA)
A linguistic estimate of a speaker's age range, used alongside other evidence.
Some features of speech change with age, including speech rate, pitch and vocabulary. In an age assessment, the analyst first places the speaker in a broad age group and then refines the estimate using these cues. The analyst explains how each cue was weighed, so the reasoning behind the age range can be followed and tested.
A common question is whether an asylum seeker who says they are under 18 is a minor. Language analysis cannot give an exact age, but it adds an evidence-based view where documents are lacking. Each report states the methods, the age categories used and the level of confidence.
We have provided age assessment reports for speakers of Arabic (several dialects), Dari, Farsi, Kurdish, Pashto and Turkish.
Who language analysis is for
Our reports can support public bodies, lawyers and organisations working with displaced people.
- Immigration and border authorities, assessing nationality and age when documents are missing or inconsistent.
- Solicitors, barristers and judges in immigration, asylum and criminal cases.
- Police, intelligence and security agencies, for example to link a speaker in a recording to a region.
- Refugee and humanitarian organisations, supporting resettlement and aid decisions.
- Researchers in linguistics, migration and related fields.
How we work
- Native-speaker analysts who combine first-hand cultural knowledge with rigorous linguistic training.
- Qualified forensic expertise: all our analysts hold formal credentials in linguistics or forensic phonetics, use data-driven methods such as acoustic measurement and likelihood reasoning, and work under strict quality control and peer review.
- Methodological transparency: each report documents the data, the analytical steps and the interpretation, and discusses alternative explanations and uncertainty.
- Independent counter-reporting: we routinely provide unbiased second-opinion reports, and our counter-reports have helped overturn incorrect assumptions in appeal cases.
- Expert witnesses experienced in legal proceedings, who can present the method and findings clearly to judges and tribunals.
- Comprehensive coverage of dozens of languages and dialects, including under-resourced regional and minority varieties often met in asylum and legal cases.
Language analysis by language
Pages for languages and dialects we are often asked to analyse, and for clients in particular countries.
Af-May (Maay) LADO
Maay language analysis for people from the inter-riverine south of Somalia, kept apart from Northern and Benadir Somali.
Albanian LADO
Albanian LADO reports that read Gheg and Tosk features to assess origin in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia or Montenegro.
Amharic LADO
Amharic language analysis for Ethiopian claims, including speakers who learnt Amharic as a second language.
Arabic LADO
Arabic LADO by dialect specialists, from Morocco and Sudan to Syria, Iraq, the Gulf and Yemen.
Bengali LADO
Bengali (Bangla) LADO weighing Bangladeshi against Indian usage and regional speech from Sylhet to Chattogram.
Burmese LADO
Burmese LADO that separates Irrawaddy valley speech, Rakhine and Tavoyan features, and Burmese learned as a second language.
Dari and Hazaragi LADO
Dari and Hazaragi LADO for Afghans and Hazaras raised in Afghanistan, Iran or Pakistan, with Farsi and Urdu influence assessed.
Dari LADO
Dari LADO focused on Afghan regional speech, Iranian Farsi contrast and the official vocabulary of Afghan documents.
Edo (Bini) LADO
Edo (Bini) LADO for people from Benin City and Edo State, with Nigerian Pidgin and English considered alongside Edo.
Eritrea: LADO and nationality
Tigrinya and Amharic LADO with nationality assessment for claimed Eritreans, including Eritreans raised in Ethiopia.
Georgian LADO
Georgian LADO reports covering regional dialects, Mingrelian and Svan backgrounds and Georgian communities in Turkey or Iran.
Ghanaian Pidgin LADO
LADO for speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin, weighing it against Nigerian Pidgin and drawing on Twi and Ghanaian English.
Gulf Arabic LADO
Khaleeji LADO comparing Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari, Emirati and Eastern Province speech with neighbouring varieties.
Hassaniya Arabic LADO
Hassaniya LADO for Mauritania, Western Sahara and the wider Sahara, by analysts who know Klam el-Bidhan.
Kibajuni (Bajuni) LADO
Bajuni language analysis that tests Kibajuni speech from the southern Somali coast against Kenyan and Tanzanian Swahili.
Kpelle LADO
Kpelle language analysis that weighs Liberian against Guinean speech, including Liberian English, French and Maninka influence.
Kurdish Badini LADO
Badini LADO for the Duhok governorate, weighing Iraqi Badinan against Kurmanji speech across the Turkish and Syrian borders.
Kurdish Kurmanji LADO
Kurmanji LADO across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, using accent, vocabulary and contact languages to assess origin.
Kurdish LADO
Kurdish LADO that starts by identifying the variety: Kurmanji, Badini, Sorani, Southern Kurdish and neighbouring forms.
Kurdish Sorani LADO
Sorani LADO that separates Iraqi and Iranian Central Kurdish, from Erbil and Sulaymaniyah to Sanandaj and Mahabad.
Kuwaiti Bidoon LADO
Gulf Arabic LADO and nationality assessment for stateless Kuwaiti Bidoon whose Kuwaiti origin is disputed against Iraq.
Levantine Arabic LADO
Levantine Arabic LADO for Syrian and Palestinian claimants: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestinian communities and refugee camps.
Lingala LADO
Lingala LADO weighing Kinshasa and Brazzaville speech, French borrowing, urban slang and the speaker's other Congolese languages.
Maghrebi Arabic LADO
Darija LADO that separates Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan speech and reads French and Amazigh influence.
Mandinka LADO
Mandinka LADO placing speech in The Gambia, Casamance or Guinea-Bissau and separating it from Bambara, Maninka and Dyula.
Nigerian Pidgin LADO
Naija LADO separating Nigerian Pidgin from Cameroonian Pidgin and Krio, and Lagos from Niger Delta speech.
Oromo LADO
Oromo LADO that places speech in West Central, Eastern or Borana areas and weighs Ethiopia against Kenya.
Palestinian Arabic LADO
Palestinian Arabic LADO for urban, rural and Bedouin speech, compared with Jordanian and northern Levantine forms.
Pashto (Afghanistan) LADO
Pashto (Afghanistan) LADO weighing southern and northern speech and Dari or Urdu influence, with Pakistan as the main alternative.
Pashto (Pakistan) LADO
LADO for Pakhto speakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Balochistan and Karachi, including Urdu contact and Pakistani schooling.
Pulaar (Fulfulde) LADO
Fula LADO distinguishing Pulaar, Pular and Fulfulde varieties from Senegal and Guinea to Nigeria and Cameroon.
Punjabi LADO
Punjabi LADO separating Indian and Pakistani Punjab, Majhi, Doabi and Malwai from Pothwari and Mirpuri speech.
Rohingya LADO
Rohingya LADO distinguishing northern Rakhine State speech from Chittagonian, with camp and migration history considered.
Russian LADO
Russian LADO that looks beyond the standard language to local vocabulary and the first language beneath a speaker's Russian.
Somali LADO
Somali LADO that tells Northern, Benadir and Maay speech apart and weighs time spent in Kenya, Ethiopia or Djibouti.
Sudanese and Darfur LADO
LADO for Sudanese Arabic and the Darfur languages Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit, weighing Sudan against eastern Chad.
Sylheti LADO
Sylheti LADO for speakers from the Sylhet Division and India's Barak Valley, analysed apart from standard Bengali.
Tamil LADO
Tamil LADO comparing Jaffna, eastern and hill country Tamil from Sri Lanka with Tamil Nadu speech.
Tibetan nationality assessment
Nationality assessment for claimed Tibetans, supported by LADO: raised in Tibet, or in exile communities in Nepal or India?
Tigrinya LADO
Tigrinya LADO that tests whether speech was formed in Eritrea or in Tigray, with loanwords and second languages examined.
Turkmen LADO
Turkmen LADO comparing Teke-based standard speech with Yomut, Ersari and the Farsi-influenced Turkmen of Iran and Afghanistan.
Urdu LADO
Urdu LADO that looks beyond the national language to the first language, region and schooling a speaker's Urdu reveals.
Uyghur LADO
Uyghur LADO covering the dialects of Xinjiang and the Central Asian communities, handled in full confidence.
Uzbek LADO
Uzbek LADO telling Northern Uzbek of Uzbekistan from Afghan Southern Uzbek, with Russian, Tajik and Dari contact assessed.
Wolof LADO
Wolof LADO that weighs Senegalese against Gambian speech, French against English loanwords, and Dakar urban Wolof.
Yemeni Arabic LADO
Yemeni Arabic LADO across Sanaani, Taizzi-Adeni, Hadrami and Tihami speech, with Gulf and Saudi forms as comparisons.
By location
LADO in Norway
LADO for Norwegian lawyers, organisations and public bodies, with English reports and certified Norwegian translation on request.
LADO in Scotland
LADO for Scottish solicitors, advocates and charities, from legal aid asylum work to expert evidence at tribunal hearings.
Language analysis alongside the wider SILA Linguists® service
Interpreting, certified translation and transcription for the same cases.
Language analysis rarely stands alone. Immigration solicitors, the legal sector, police and justice teams, public sector decision-makers and charities working in immigration and asylum also need interpreters and documents they can rely on. SILA Linguists® provides both: interpreting face to face, by video or by telephone for interviews and hearings, certified translation of identity documents, certificates and court records, and transcription of interview recordings with time stamps and translation.
With one SILA Linguists® project team handling language analysis, nationality assessment, translation and interpreting, files stay consistent and confidential from the first recording to the final report, in more than 350 languages and dialects, for clients in the UK, North America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Discuss a language analysis case
Tell us the language or dialect, the type of report you need (origin, age or second opinion) and your deadline.