Endangered Languages of New York City

 In January I did a series of posts on endangered languages. A few weeks ago the New York Times had an excellent "scrollytelling" graphic story on these languages and where they are spoken within New York City.

as you scroll down the page languages appear down Manhattan island.

Some quotes from the text: "Most people think of endangered languages as far-flung or exotic, the opposite of cosmopolitan" and "of the 700 or so speakers of Seke, most of whom can be founds in a cluster of villages in Nepal, more than 150 have lived in or around two apartment buildings in Brooklyn." According to linguist Ross Perlin there are more endangered languages in and around New York City than there than "have ever existed anywhere else."

There are profiles of speakers of these languages with a speaker button you can click to hear them speak.

A few neighborhoods are highlighted including the part of the South Bronx where my father grew up.

Continued scrolling reveals some of the languages in very specific places,

so I can see that there are Balanta-Ganja speakers (from Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia in West Africa) right around the corner from my grandmother's apartment building.

Much of the geographic content in this article is from the New York City Language Map, another great resource and rabbit hole to disappear down.

For much more see the  Times story online and the nyc language map.