Linguistic profiling is the practice of identifying the social characteristics of an individual based on auditory cues, in particular dialect and accent.
Baugh's theory is distinct from linguistic profiling as defined by Hans van Halteren from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
Van Halteren's theory deals with the categorization of linguistic features for the purposes of author identification and verification from a text, not necessarily specifically addressing the socially defined categories within which they are included.
The power to determine origin or racial identity based on speech can be utilized without overt discrimination, as argued in several court cases[which?]
The negative effects of linguistic profiling are seen in the practice of denying housing or employment based on stereotypes associated with dialect and/or accent.
Baugh found a discrepancy between the proclaimed availability of an apartment in a phone interview, in which he utilized Standard American English, and its apparent unavailability upon a face-to-face meeting with the landlord.
The changed conception of the housing administrator between auditory and visual cues pointed to overt discrimination based on race.
Each landlord selected was subject to three requests in these three dialects, and the correlating negative and positive responses to call-back appointments were shown to favor speakers of Standard American English.
She found that subjects associated AAVE with their heritage, while perceiving African Americans who used Standard English as "acting white".
A witness testified against a suspect based on his overhearing of an argument between two apparent Spanish speakers where the killer was identified as having a Dominican rather than a Puerto Rican accent.
The New York Superior Court ruled that distinguishing between accents was permissible based on the fact that "human experience has taught us to discern the variation in the mode of speech of certain individuals."
A white police officer testified against Charles Clifford, an African American appellant at the Kentucky Supreme Court based on his evaluation of race from spoken language.
The presiding Judge cited the findings of Sanchez v. People in justifying the officer's claim of identifying the suspect based on overheard speech.
Preston argues for the further definition of "personal familiarity" with a dialect to an individual as a member of the speech community within which the identification is taking place.
Ferril was hired by TPG, a firm that generates 60% of its revenue from providing pre-election "get-out-the-vote" phone calls to prospective voters, for the November 1994 election.
While indicative of on overall stigmatization of boys, the study also provides evidence that the negative associations with minority students (who are identified through linguistic profiling) are held by members of all racial groups.
In a 1992 study, D. Rubin found that undergraduate university students would comprehend material more poorly if they heard a non-accented lecture presented with a picture of an Asian female.
When the same non-accented lecture was presented with a European American teaching assistant, students had a greater ability to comprehend the material.
This suggests that face identification may be enough to make students believe that language performance will be accented, which corresponded with a belief that comprehension would be reduced.
[14] The Fair Housing Act makes explicit the unlawfulness of discrimination against any member of a protected class, including religion, age, disability, gender, and race.
In this way linguistic studies on the ability of lay persons to correctly identify race or ethnic groups based on auditory cues proves helpful to anti-discrimination law.