Linguistic profiling and shifting standards

Abstract

Perceptions of non-native speech are often guided by listeners’ expectations of a speaker. These expectations are informed by pre-existing beliefs about how particular types of people sound. Perceived ethnicity can affect how listeners evaluate speech (Rubin 1992; D’Onofrio 2019); however, most of this work has been situated in Western contexts. The current study details an experiment that tests for the linguistic profiling (Baugh 2005) of the Uyghur population of China, a group that has been systematically oppressed for their ethnicity and religion. Using name-based ethnicity priming, participants thought they were hearing either a Korean, Uyghur or non-descript speaker of L2 Mandarin. Results showed that participants rated the speaker as significantly more confident, intelligent and hard-working in the Uyghur condition. However, participants were significantly less likely to hire the supposedly ‘Uyghur’ speaker. We propose that these results are evidence of shifting standards (Biernat 2012), whereby listener expectations are lowered by social stereotypes, leading to inflated subjective ratings of minority groups, without leading to positive outcomes.

The influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability: a new application of the systems theory framework of career development

“…Other studies examined perceived employability under experimental conditions as rated by members of the general population (e.g., Hunt and Denim, 2022; Levon et al. , 2021; Poels, 2021; Seggie et al.…”

“…Other studies examined perceived employability under experimental conditions as rated by members of the general population (e.g., Hunt and Denim, 2022;Levon et al, 2021;Poels, 2021;Seggie et al, 1986); experienced employment interviewers and recruiters (e.g., Atkins, 1993;De La Zerda and Hopper, 1979;Hopper, 1977;Voigt, 1994); human resource management professionals (Blair and Conner, 1978;Carlson and McHenry, 2006;Terrell and Terrell, 1983;Rey, 1977); entrepreneurs (Seggie et al, 1986); and other professionals with managerial experience (e.g., Timming, 2017). In the studies where non-student listeners and raters were used, there were four experiments that concluded no differences in rating of employability based on vocal cues (Gomlich, 2020;Poels, 2021;Seggie et al, 1986;Voigt, 1994).…”

“…Likewise, the geographic location interacts with listeners' recognitions of speech that deviates from the standardized language in that context, which is the basis of linguistic profiling. Also, within the societal system, the prevalent language ideologies regarding superiority, inferiority, and social stereotypes interact with linguistic profiling to influence perceived employability (Hunt and Denim, 2022). We model perceived employability as a component of the organizational system because it is a precursor to gaining employment in an organizational system as a new hire (Hogan et al, 2013).…”