Masked man in Islamic State video may have Canadian roots: experts
There is a “reasonable” or “probable” chance that a disguised, English- speaking man seen in a propaganda video released by the Islamic State extremist group has roots in Canada based on his accent, two linguists said Thursday.
This week, the FBI posted on its website a segment of the video and asked the public for help in identifying the masked man who alternates between Arabic and English.
Language experts at the University of Toronto and McGill University told Postmedia News that the man’s pronunciation of certain words — including the words “Islamic” and “out” — suggest strong ties to Canada.
Neither Canadian nor American law enforcement and intelligence officials would say Thursday whether they are leaning in one direction or another as far as identifying the man’s nationality. Citing anonymous sources, an NBC News report this week said intelligence officials have attempted to use voice- recognition software but have failed to come up with a match to any known terrorism suspects.
Western governments have become increasingly concerned about radicalized individuals travelling overseas to fight with terrorist groups in places like Syria and Iraq.
The House of Commons public safety committee this week heard that the RCMP has 63 active national security investigations underway targeting 90 individuals, including those suspected of planning to travel abroad and those who have returned.
The 55- minute Islamic State propaganda video released last month features a masked man dressed in camouflage and wearing a shoulder holster and standing in front of what is purported to be prisoners digging their own graves.
The man speaks with a North American accent and makes pro- Islamic State pronouncements “intended to appeal to a Western audience,” according
There were some words that made it very likely that he probably learned his English in Canada. It doesn’t mean he’s Canadian. It doesn’t mean he’s from Canada. CHARLES BOBERG MCGILL LINGUISTICS PROFESSOR
to the FBI bulletin.
“We’re hoping that someone might recognize this individual and provide us with key pieces of information,” FBI assistant director Michael Steinbach says in the bulletin.
After listening to the audio, Charles Boberg, a professor of linguistics at McGill, said it was “probable” that the masked man learned English in Canada and that at least part of his early childhood was spent in Canada.
“There were some words that made it very likely that he probably learned his English in Canada. It doesn’t mean he’s Canadian. It doesn’t mean he’s from Canada. It just means that when he was forming his phonetic patterns of English they were formed with a strong Canadian influence,” he said.
One thing that stood out was the man’s pronunciation of “Islamic,” Boberg said. In the video he pronounces it Islamm-ic ( where the second syllable rhymes with “bam”), as opposed to Is- lahm- ic ( where the second syllable rhymes with “balm”), he said.
His research has shown that most Americans pronounce it the second way.
Boberg also homed in on the man’s pronunciation of the phrase “carried out.” The way he pronounces “out” — where the first part of the word is more like the vowel in “up” as opposed to the vowel in “at” — “places him in Canada when he was learning English,” Boberg said.