Linguistic profiling is the practice of identifying the social characteristics of an individual based on auditory cues, in particular dialect and accent.

“The origin of inequality withing the (Xbox Live) space.”

“Linguistic profiling is similar to racial profiling. Racial profiling uses visual cues ‘that result in the confirmation or speculation of the racial background of an individual, or individuals,’ and linguistic profiling ‘is based upon auditory cues that may include racial identification, but which can also be used to identify other linguistic subgroups within a given speech community.” -Kishonna Gray

• used as an effective means to filter out individuals whom one may not want to do business with
  • e.g. according to executive director of National Fair house Alliance, insurance companies, mortgage companies, and other financial institutions may refuse to extend services if they think you sound Black or Mexican
• occurs frequently within virtual communities
  • people feel free to disclose personal information believing that they will remain anonymous, but are sometimes unaware that their voice itself automatically reveals a lot about the speaker
  • e.g. ” The first half of our griefing exercise was spent killing members of our own team comprised of all males who spoke Standard American English…This type of behavior is usually in response to an oppressive act that occurs against [the Conscious Daughters] within Xbox live. They react in this manner only when someone forces them to this type of action by calling them bitch, spic, or by commenting on their citizenship based on how they sound.”