Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

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 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.

Both remarkable social history and testament to the importance of linguistic diversity, Language City is a joyful and illuminating exploration of a city and the world that made it.

Reviews

A work of sweeping ambition that succeeds on every level: reportorial, explanatory, stylistic, political -- Margalit Fox, author of THE CONFIDENCE MEN
What a rich and explosively vital book. Now to all New York's other superlatives we can add "the most linguistically diverse city in the history of the world." -- Russell Shorto, author of THE ISLAND AT THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD
Language City is a treasure. Each page brims with fascinating historical details that somehow manage to give New York more meaning and importance than it already had -- Alejandro Varela, author of THE TOWN OF BABYLON

Author Bio

Ross Perlin is a linguist, writer and translator. He has written for the New York Times, the Guardian, Harper's and n+1 and the Endangered Language Alliance has been covered by the New York Times, the New Yorker, BBC, NPR and many others. He is also the author of Intern Nation.