"Will cities just be last-minute outposts for endangered languages, or can they become sustainable sites for linguistic diversity?”
“We won’t all learn to speak each other’s languages, but a few words can go a long way, and at a minimum we need to grow familiar and comfortable with hearing them all the time”
“More difference over time means less conflict, and that it matters how contact happens, is managed, and is mediated. Deep difference can become utterly natural.”

Major thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Columbia linguist Ross Perlin’s passionate and detailed study of the linguistic diversity of New York City titled Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Perlin applies his expertise in linguistics and documents his work with the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) to share the incredibly diversity of NYC, as well as to call attention to the need to preserve many of the endangered languages that are a part of smaller communities in the 5 boroughs and surrounding areas. This was a great book in many different ways. Perlin begins by discussing his own background as a multilingual speaker, discussing his experiences learning Yiddish from his family and studying Chinese in Beijing. One of the speakers he profiles later, Boris, is a Yiddish speaker and writer, and Perlin uses his own experience to challenge the ideas that Yiddish is a form of broken English or a dialect, presenting grammatical rules and a body of literature to define its linguistic existence, however, precarious. However, it was in China where he learned about the Trung language, spoken in a rural area at least a day’s journey from Beijing, detailing how Trung is related to several different languages in the surrounding area. As Perlin notes, Trung has no teachers, dictionaries, or other learning materials, so the only way to learn the language was to live among the people. It is here where he learned the field methods of building relationships, documenting, and creating his own materials for preserving and potentially teaching the language to others by borrowing methods from anthropology. This also sets up much of his ethnographic reporting of his work with the 5 speakers who worked with the ELA . The book also provides a great description of NYC, especially focused on Queens, from the linguistic lens to demonstrate its incredible diversity. I loved thinking about NYC from this perspective and learning more about the history of different immigrant groups. Perlin also provides some background on many different languages and how languages act almost as organisms which mutate based on their location and social standing, among other factors (including technology). This was fascinating and helps us understand how these endangered languages both languish and persevere through the efforts of the speakers from the ELA. Perlin details the work of 5 individuals, all multilingual speakers of these languages. It was fascinating to learn about their languages and their stories, immigrating to America, and then looking to preserve their native language. It’s hard to say which story is the best since all of the speakers have amazing stories. For example, Rasmina, a speaker of Seke, a Himalayan language from Nepal, documents her work to share Seke, and how Perlin traveled to her village to record other Seke speakers. Husniya, a speaker of Wakhi, was originally from a village between Tajikstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China, and amazingly, she moved to America, studied and worked as a teacher, and eventually became a realtor. Yet, she still found time to work with the ELA to document and preserve Wakhi. Like Rasmina and Husniya, the other speakers (Boris -Yiddish, Ibrahima -N’ko, Irwin- Nahuatl, and Karen-Lunaape (or Lenape) experienced various forms of migration and/or land loss. Some experienced tragedy and rapid political change or war in their homelands, forcing migration. Others experienced a kind of stigmatization from the status of their language and culture, which is something that Perlin also explores—the nature of privileging certain languages, especially written languages, over others. Yet, all of these individuals are incredibly persistent and energetic about preserving and sharing their language and culture. I loved learning about the different aspects of their culture. Reading about Irwin’s culinary connections to Nahuatl not only took me back to swimming in a cenote and visiting Chichen Itza, but also made me crave authentic Mexican food. I also did not realize the extent of indigenous languages in Mexico (as well as some of the other regions explored in the book) and how these languages have contributed to the Spanish spoken in Mexico. Just looking at certain regions, especially in the Yucatan, I could see how influential indigenous languages like Nahuatl are. As someone who has taught English to speakers of other languages, I can appreciate the significance of maintaining a native language; I frequently tried to use L1 as a reference point for learning. However, Perlin makes a strong case for how important it is to maintain a native language, and how cities like NY can help in the efforts. The patterns of migrations and neighborhoods that frequently maintain a regional or cultural group can serve as an nexus. It’s also important to our culture and history to work to maintain these, and Perlin rightly points how recent social and health challenges like COVID have limited migration, which in turn can put these languages at risk. This was an incredible book that documents the work of incredible people, as well as highlighting the important connections between language, culture and identity. I loved learning about the ELA, as well as the different languages and cultures featured throughout the book. Despite seeming like an academic/ethnographic study of the fight to preserve various languages, Perlin has written a highly engaging and personal story, often making complex academic/linguistic topics understandable and relatable.

With this book, Perlin provided and interesting and in-depth look at the landscape of languages that make up New York City. I found the work being done by the Endangered Language Association extremely interesting and was shocked to learn that there are so many languages spoken in the city. It was even more surprising that there are so many languages whose only speakers or the majority of speakers are now located in NYC.

I appreciated the place-based exploration of language, because it took a wide range of concepts and connected them all to the people living in one area. I have not found another example that includes so many of the language-based topics I cover in my AP Human Geography course, but this book was chock-full of them from the introduction. I definitely plan to use excerpts of this with my students and think that they will be just as fascinated!

It has been known for a while now that New York city is one of the greenest places on the planet simply due to its population density. In "Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York " Ross Perlin examines a similar phenomenon, that is , that the Big Apple is actually a very good place to shelter and preserve linguistic diversity. Focusing on a number of grass roots efforts to preserve seriously endangered languages this book also serves as a very good foundation for understanding both the fundamental concepts and motivations behind language study and preservation. Additionally, the book provides major insights into the historical forces resulted in the development of New York's rich multi-ethnic identity. Readers with even a passing interest in the study of language and / or the New York experience should find something of interest here.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Grove Atlantic, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the overview of "endangered" languages in New York City. Language city explores a number of them, as well as conservation efforts. It was a fascinating read!

In this very informative and incredibly comprehensive guide on the languages spoken in New York, a city that thrives thanks to its multicultural milieu, Ross Perlin passionately tells us about some of the languages that are being revived, also in collaboration with ELA (Endangered Languages Alliance), through the eyes of their own speakers. Each story/speaker corresponding to a chapter. I found all the extensive information very interesting and great food for thought for anyone really, not only language enthusiasts like myself, in that language is much more than talking or translating, it has implications on land and property, our relationships, political status. This quote is particularly enlightening: "When people ask where a language comes from and how old it is, as though it were a person with a birth certificate, it often means that political, historical, and ethnic territorial claims are at stake." Some parts are slightly too detailed or seem to stray from the topic being addressed in the book, especially the first part that is supposed to serve as a very broad introduction, but still enjoyable.

Grove Atlantic Press provided an early galley for review.

I was attracted to this book due to the New York City connection. It is a city that has always fascinated and called to me. As far as languages go, English is my native, I took a couple years of Spanish back in high school, and I learned a bit of American Sign Language in college.

The first portion of the book is dedicated to the Past. Looking at the evolution and growth of the city through the lens of the languages spoken where and when was an interesting approach. It is not something I ever considered for long during my days of studying American history. But I can very much see how this is an important element in the life of an urban center, and it is something I will keep in mind going forward.

The second portion of the book is dedicated to the Present. The bulk here focuses on a few key languages from the city: Seke, N’ko, Lenape, Nahuatl, Wakhi, and Yiddish. I knew next to nothing about any of these, so this was very much a learning experience for me. Perlin's approach is interesting as he presents these along with people who speak the language, giving more personal, narrative stories for the reader to experience.

The book ends with a chapter about the future, talking about how restrictions on immigration impact the proliferation and growth of linguistic diversity in our country and cities like New York. It really makes one think. I suspect the book will appeal to folks who either want to learn something new or are familiar with one of these six languages and want to get into some of the specifics as they relate to residents and life in New York City.

Perlin portrays the symphonic quality of New York's linguistic palette in this hi-story of migrating folk and their travelling tongues. The book focuses on what it means to belong, but also on how many belong, through language, despite being uprooted from home country. Even entire languages, with a population of speakers in individual villages, are able to, and do, stack themselves vertically in the high-rise jungle of the world's most multilingual city.
I love the scope of this book and how language and diversity are its lifeblood. People play a collective rather than an individual role and languages are treated as the individuals.
Fascinating to read!

At the time of writing, the current population of New York City is 8.468 million people. In 2018, 3.1 million of these residents were immigrants. These 3.1 million—and the millions of immigrants before them, all the way back to the founding of New Amsterdam in 1624—brought their languages with them. In Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, linguist Ross Perlin talks about New York city as an unexpected repository for the world’s languages, from the most widely spoken to some of the most rarely spoken. He highlights the work of staff and volunteers at the Endangered Languages Alliance to record and preserve languages on the rarer end of things.

Perlin opens Language City with a history of New York city that not only focuses on languages but also discrimination against immigrants, why people pack up and move thousands of miles, and the ways that immigrants have created their own cheek-by-jowl enclaves. After this meandering overview of New York’s linguistic landscape, Perlin travels with six speakers of endangered languages to their new homes in the city and back to the homelands of four of these languages. The experiences of speakers of Seke, Wakhi, Yiddish, Nahuatl, Lenape, and West African languages written using the N’Ko script reveal the astonishing variety and beauty of human speech, as well as the existential threat that these languages face from more dominant languages, globalism, and migration.

As an English speaker, there are few places in the world I can go where I won’t find an English speaker. If I can’t find an English speaker, as long as I have an internet connection I have tools like Google Scholar that can help me be understood in dozens of commonly spoken languages. The speakers profiled by Perlin, however, have had to learn one or more languages to be understood by people outside of their home villages or towns. I marvel at their linguistic ability. I also feel more than a little guilty at how hard these speakers have to work to keep their languages alive in America (and sometimes in their countries of origin). It’s more advantageous for their children to be fluent in the majority language. There may be little benefit in learning their parents’ language—except that the loss of a language means that so many stories, so many songs, and so much culture may be irrevocably lost.

Each speaker’s section drummed the theme of language loss into my heart. Several of the speakers, like Boris the Yiddish speaker, only have a few aging speakers left to talk to. Karen, the Lenape speaker, worked with other Delaware and Lenape people to try and reconstruct her heritage language after it was nearly wiped out by centuries of anti-Indigenous policies by the United States and Canadian governments. Perlin emphasizes that it’s not just a point of pride to know and share these languages. We can learn new ways of seeing the world through the eyes of their speakers. For example, the grammar of Delaware and Lenape languages put plants and animals on the same grammatical footing as people. Seke speakers have different rules for telling stories depending on how the speaker came by the information (saw it, heard about it, etc.) Nahuatl includes poetic layers of meaning that make translation endlessly rewarding. Perlin doesn’t mention this but I personally have always had a soft spot for the wit and snark of Yiddish.

More than once as I was reading Language City I felt the need to hop onto the Endangered Language Alliance’s website or onto YouTube so that I could hear all of these languages spoken. I envy Perlin that he can take a walk through Queens or Brooklyn and hear so many different languages, from all over the world. I hope that Perlin and the staff and volunteers at the ELA can keep these and other immigrant languages alive.

This is a marvelous book that does the impossible--it appeals to both the academic and the non-academic. For the academic and specifically the linguist, it is rich in explanation of a smorgasbord of languages. I'm guessing many of them will be new to even the most devoted linguistic student. Perlin is able to talk about language in a way that is fascinating; his enthusiasm for it all shines through.
And for the non-linguists there is the sheer joy of getting to know New York City and the enclaves one finds. We get to know the people and their lives. It's like visiting New York City without the traffic jams and cacophonous honking that one finds in much of the more known parts of the city. It's also the kind of book that readers who love picking up tidbits of random information will find to be a real jewel. So much to learn, so much to know!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I'll look forward to seeing it head to the best seller list!

I wish I had this book back when I was a wee linguistic student! It's filled with interesting descriptions about all kinds of minority languages and the people that try to save them. Although minority languages was never my niche it is nevertheless a fascinating topic, and an important one at that. I belive this book will appeal not only to just students of linguistics but to a wide variety of people interested in the richness of the human experience.

"Half of all 7,000-plus human languages may disappear over the next century and—because many have never been recorded—when they’re gone, it will be forever. Ross Perlin, a linguist and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance, is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history: contemporary New York. In Language City, Perlin recounts the unique history of immigration that shaped the city, and follows six remarkable yet ordinary speakers of endangered languages deep into their communities to learn how they are maintaining and reviving their languages against overwhelming odds. Perlin also dives deep into their languages, taking us on a fascinating tour of unusual grammars, rare sounds, and powerful cultural histories from all around the world."

As a linguist myself, this book was fascinating in such a magnificent way. I have always been enamored with the study of languages, and how languages are representative of a people's culture, traditions, and ultimately their identity. This phenomenal journey into the ELA based in Manhattan was quite the trip. It is heartbreaking that so many languages are disappearing.

Just 4% of the world now speaks 96% of the world's languages.

❤️💔❤️ I think this is one of the coolest books I've ever read. (I'm a language nerd. Sue me!)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for providing this book for my review. I will never look at New York City the same way again. I have only had the pleasure of visiting NYC once, but I need to go back again! I love that this book not only provides a history of languages in New York City, but it also provides a current look as well. I enjoyed reading about how this author became fascinated with languages and the process of his discovery of so many languages throughout NYC. I also liked following people from different cultures and language backgrounds and learning from each person. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in linguistics or the history of NYC. This is such an educational and enjoyable read. Thank you again for allowing me to review this book.

I wish that I could use a stronger word than “fascinating,” but that’s what “Language City” most definitely is - an absorbingly fascinating read that had me hooked within the first few pages. I think I would have been quite satisfied if the book had consisted only of its first section, which was a history of New York City’s language diversity and a macro overview of some of the many, many, many languages being spoken there in the present day. But the book then proceeded to delve down into its micro-level look at the city’s linguistic wealth through the eyes of several women and men working to preserve or revive their respective endangered languages through the aid of the Endangered Language Alliance (of which the author is a co-director). Each individual’s respective chapter came packed their personal histories, deep peeks into the communities that they came from and the neighborhoods in the city that they now call home, contextual history in abundance, and of course plenty of information about the specific languages that they’re striving hard to help maintain. Thanks to its surprisingly expansive subject matter and Perlin’s approachable and thoughtful writing style, I ended up learning far more from “Language City” than I ever could have possibly expected, and I loved every little bit that I was able to soak up.

I genuinely don’t think I’ll be able to look at New York (just an hour or two away from where I live) the same way again. I hope that this book gives ELA and its impressive work some much-needed exposure and boosted support. In the meantime, I’ll be happy to recommend it when I can, and trying to get a copy available for the academic library I work in. This is nonfiction at some of its very best, in my admittedly subjective personal opinion. There's so much shared here in these pages, and to repeat myself, it's so fascinating - wonderfully, eye-openingly fascinating.