The first thing to notice about this map is that western respondents have identified more of the state with greater frequency than eastern respondents (by comparison to the Map of eastern respondents). This is indicated by the fact that nearly the entire state contained areas of overlap that were identified by at least 31% of the western respondents. Secondly, it appears that western respondents find a large portion of the very eastern region of WA as different since at least 46% of those respondents identified that area.  By comparison to the eastern respondents, the western respondents seem to have identified areas in eastern WA more than the eastern respondents did.

There are lots of reasons why eastern WA might be perceived as different.  There is a perceived cultural divide that separates the eastern and western parts of the state along the geographic divide of the Cascade mountain range, often called the “cascade curtain”. The cascade curtain represents a geographic and political divide between ‘westside liberals’ and ‘eastside Republicans’ resulting from the differing population distribution and topography in the two ‘sides’ of the state. The eastern region encompasses counties that have a history of agriculture and they are the top producers of crop and livestock products which may lead eastern WA to be associated with rural, agricultural and ‘cowboy’ culture. This notion is supported by the fact that eastern WA was frequently labeled as “country” or “hick” and, in fact, this notion comprised the largest category of labels given by the respondents.

Eastern respondents have indicated a very large area east of the Cascade mountains signaling salience of eastern WA.  Patterns of overlap in western WA suggest large salient areas in western WA.  By comparison with the western respondents, difference in eastern WA is less differentiated and concentrated in the center of eastern WA with little overlap near the border of WA and ID. There is also more differentiation in the Seattle area by comparison to the western respondents.

There are lots of reasons why eastern WA might be perceived as different.  There is a perceived cultural divide that separates the eastern and western parts of the state along the geographic divide of the Cascade mountain range, often called the “cascade curtain”. The cascade curtain represents a geographic and political divide between ‘westside liberals’ and ‘eastside Republicans’ resulting from the differing population distribution and topography in the two ‘sides’ of the state. The eastern region encompasses counties that have a history of agriculture and they are the top producers of crop and livestock products which may lead eastern WA to be associated with rural, agricultural and ‘cowboy’ culture. This notion is supported by the fact that eastern WA was frequently labeled as “country” or “hick” and, in fact, this notion comprised the largest category of labels given by the respondents.

This map indicates the overlap of the areas identified by all respondents as places where they “think people’s English sounds different.” The dark red areas indicate where the most overlap occurs, while the light yellow areas indicate where the least overlap occurs.  In the map legend, the overlap is presented as the percentage of the 178 respondents who identified an area.  For example, the dark red locations on the map represent the overlap of areas identified by at least 40% of the respondents.

The most prominent feature in this map is the apparent salience of urban areas.  That is, the major urban areas of WA were the places that were most frequently identified by respondents on their hand-drawn maps.  These areas may be salient to respondents because they view the city as a place that brings many people together therefore resulting in diversity that makes the city different from the surrounding area. This notion is suggested by labels given to these urban areas such as “ethnic groups diverse” or “blended from different cultures”.  Urban areas are also where respondents believe there is a great amount of “slang” and also “gangsta” language.

Eastern WA, the area east of the Cascade mountain range, demonstrates a similar pattern of salience of urban areas but also shows more pronounced large regions of overlap.  For example, the northeast quadrant of the state seems to be rather salient to all the respondents.

There are lots of reasons why eastern WA might be perceived as different.  There is a perceived cultural divide that separates the eastern and western parts of the state along the geographic divide of the Cascade mountain range, often called the “cascade curtain”. The cascade curtain represents a geographic and political divide between ‘westside liberals’ and ‘eastside Republicans’ resulting from the differing population distribution and topography in the two ‘sides’ of the state. The eastern region encompasses counties that have a history of agriculture and they are the top producers of crop and livestock products which may lead eastern WA to be associated with rural, agricultural and ‘cowboy’ culture. This notion is supported by the fact that eastern WA was frequently labeled as “country” or “hick” and, in fact, this notion comprised the largest category of labels given by the respondents.