"Seattle to Spokane: Mapping English in Washington State" explores people’s perceptions of how English is spoken in Washington State. We asked long-time residents to draw on a map where they think people speak differently around Washington. Some people think everyone in WA sounds the same while others think there are different kinds of English spoken in Washington.
It might seem like a funny question to ask but, in fact, we can learn a lot about language when we ask people who aren’t linguists questions about their language. This sort of research falls in a category of Linguistics called ‘folk linguistics’. In addition to linguistic information such as speakers’ sensitivity to variation, we can learn about speakers’ cultural beliefs about language and space.
Read more at the Seattle to Spokane project website.