Saving Endangered Languages in New York City

All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC), February 20, 2024

Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode explores New York City's unparalleled linguistic diversity and the urgent fight to preserve its endangered languages, as discussed through the lens of linguist Ross Perlin’s newly released book, Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Host Alison Stewart and Perlin delve into the stories behind these languages, the communities keeping them alive, and the importance of cultural and linguistic heritage—spotlighting how language shapes identity, community, and the city’s very fabric.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Scale of Linguistic Diversity in NYC

• NYC as a linguistic capital:
  • “According to a new book by my next guest, linguist Ross Perlin, New York City is the most linguistically diverse city in the history of the world.” (00:50, Alison Stewart)
  • The borough of Queens alone is highlighted as having more languages per square mile than anywhere else on Earth.
• Real Numbers—And Underreporting:
  • Perlin: “...five to six times the number [of languages] that appears on the census....most...are indigenous, minority and endangered languages, primarily oral languages, not the sort of major national languages you've heard of.” (02:49)

2. Community Spaces as Language Pillars

• Places Anchoring Language:
  • Perlin describes their Language Map project, which documents language hot spots: “...significant sites...churches, mosques, synagogues, restaurants, community centers, hometown associations....They might just look like social clubs...but they connect...New York with a town on the other side of the world.” (04:14)
• “Vertical villages”:
  • Some New York buildings or city blocks can house speakers of up to 40 languages, showing language diversity is often hyperlocal and multilayered (05:19).

3. Beyond Iconic Neighborhoods

• While areas like Little Italy or Chinatown are famous, Perlin notes, “...the true linguistic geography of the city...shows actually much deeper levels of diversity and much more intricate patterns of settlement and interweaving.” (05:19)

4. The Changing Fortunes of Languages

• Transmission Dilemma:
  • Caller Mamadou (10:02) brings up the challenge of heritage language loss among Fulani speakers, especially when parents (often mothers) don’t speak the language with their children.
  • Perlin responds, “The home is the most important place. So...do whatever you and others can do...in your choices, just what you speak to people, even the young people, just to just use the language and to speak it in the home.” (12:49)
• Community Action & Materials:
  • Perlin highlights the need for classes, children’s books, media—anything to keep languages “alive and interesting to younger generations.” (11:40)

5. Underrepresented Languages—Hidden Stories

• Focus on ‘small’ languages:
  • Perlin shares the story of Seke, an oral language from Nepal spoken by only about 700 people globally. “A significant percentage of them have moved to a couple of buildings in Brooklyn and some in Queens as well.” (08:50)
  • The Endangered Language Alliance works to document, create dictionaries, and record these languages in collaboration with native speakers.

6. The Roots and Reach of NYC's Languages

• Examples from Listener Participation:
  • Maltese (06:13), Scottish Gaelic (13:44), Papiamento (18:55), Sicilian dialect, Kyrgyz, Yiddish, Albanian (24:06), Arabic (26:51), German (27:45), and more.
  • Listeners describe their personal or ancestral connections, efforts to relearn languages as adults, or experiences of shame, loss, and rediscovery.
• Language, Identity, and Regret:
  • Callers reflect on generational divides in language transmission, particularly due to discrimination or historical events (i.e., German and Italian post-WWI/WWII). “...It was just not spoken at all...speaking a second language was—you were an idiot. So I didn't speak German...” (28:21, Silke)
• Mother Tongue vs. Lingua Franca:
  • Perlin: “Mother tongues...are so important for that sense of connectedness to identity, to family. There are people now who can't speak to their grandparents because they lack a common language.” (30:13)

7. The Six Individuals in Language City

• The Human Side of Linguistics:
  • Perlin highlights the six speakers featured in his book, representing languages like Lenape, Wahi (Tajikistan), Manding (West Africa, Unko writing system), Yiddish, Seke, and Nahuatl.
  • Notable story: Karen, who helped revive and teach Lenape in NYC. “She brought the language back...driving down 10 hours from the reserve in Ontario to teach it on 18th street...” (20:19)
  • Ibrahima’s work with the Unko script, ensuring its presence in digital text encoding and teaching it in NYC mosques.

8. Strategies for Language Preservation

• Family Language Policy:
  • Caller tip: “If you want to teach your child your native language...every time he talks to me in English, you know, I'll just tell him, stop—Arabic.” (26:51, Jakob)
  • Perlin affirms—language preservation starts at home and is enabled by conscious choice and effort.
• Role of Shame & Stigma:
  • Experiences of language loss often tied to feelings of shame, pressure to assimilate, and active suppression of heritage languages (e.g., the German and Italian cases discussed at 28:21–30:13).

9. The Politics and Practicality of Language Support

• Only ten “citywide languages” get formal support in NYC, and even that is spread thin. Most other minority and endangered languages must rely on grassroots and local initiatives (07:34).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “New York has just become a place that's receiving speakers of languages from the most linguistically diverse hotspots around the world.”
  — Ross Perlin (02:49)

• “40 languages spoken in the same building around the same block...vertical villages as well as un buildings essentially.”
  — Ross Perlin (05:19)

• “We're talking about hundreds of languages that could disappear over the next few hundred years.”
  — Alison Stewart (01:00)

• “The home is the most important place. So...do whatever you and others can do...just use the language and speak it in the home.”
  — Ross Perlin (12:49)

• “Mother tongues are so important for that sense of connectedness to an identity, to a family. There are people now who can't speak to their grandparents...because they lack a common language.”
  — Ross Perlin (30:13)

• “What can we do to make this a babble that grows? A real babble, not the one that's mentioned in the Book of Genesis, but one where languages grow and flourish and it will make us all the richer.”
  — Ross Perlin (31:42)

Noteworthy Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------------------------------| | 00:50 | NYC: The most linguistically diverse city, setting the scene | | 02:49 | Perlin on mapping NYC languages; many are endangered/oral | | 04:14 | The role of community spaces, churches, associations | | 05:19 | Beyond the classic ethnic enclaves—NYC’s deeper diversity | | 10:02 | Caller Mamadou on Fulani language transmission issues | | 12:49 | Perlin on “the home as the most important place” for language transmission | | 13:44 | Caller Greg on Scottish Gaelic and revitalization efforts | | 15:31 | Listener asks about indigenous Central American languages heard in Washington Heights | | 18:55 | Listener from Curaçao mentions Papiamento | | 20:19 | Personal stories: Six speakers highlighted in Language City | | 24:06 | Caller Agim on Albanian, dialects, and Balkan language interplay | | 26:51 | Caller Jakob shares practical tip for teaching children Arabic at home | | 27:45 | Caller Silke recounts losing German language in family due to WWII shame | | 30:13 | Discussion on lessons from the past, identity, and the significance of mother tongues | | 31:42 | “Babble that grows”—Perlin’s vision for a flourishing linguistic city |

Episode Takeaways

• NYC’s linguistic diversity is vast but fragile; many of its languages exist on the edge of extinction.
• Spaces like churches, community centers, and even residential buildings are vital sites of language transmission and preservation.
• Preservation efforts are led both by community determination and linguists like Perlin. Materials, digital tools, and storytelling are all parts of the preservation ‘toolkit’.
• Listener stories show the emotional resonance of language—with themes of pride, loss, regret, and hope appearing throughout.
• Keeping a language alive is as practical as it is symbolic; it often starts with conversations at home.
• Perlin urges not just preservation, but active flourishing of languages in New York, making the city a living ‘babel’ of cultures and mother tongues.

For more, see Perlin’s book “Language City” and the Endangered Language Alliance’s interactive map at LanguageMap.NYC.