How did the most linguistically diverse city in history come to be, and—given mounting threats—how did it reach its peak diversity today? Linguist, translator, Stanford alum, and Co-Director of the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), Ross Perlin will share how the ELA has mapped and documented Jewish languages in New York and explore the lives of everyday speakers of endangered languages.

Join this year's Clara Sumpf lecturer, Ross Perlin, for a day of scholarship.

4:00 PM The Terrace Room

Language City: The Fight To Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues

Over 700 of the world’s 7000-plus languages are spoken in contemporary New York, including many that are endangered, Indigenous, primarily oral—and little documented. Driven by new forms of mobility and migration and the diasporization of nearly every ethnolinguistic group, many other hyperdiverse cities (and increasingly diverse suburbs) are not far behind. In his new book Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, linguist Ross Perlin tells the linguistic history of a city and the last-minute efforts of linguists and speakers. He also follows six remarkable yet ordinary speakers of endangered languages deep into their communities, from New York’s outer borough neighborhoods to villages on the other side of the world, to learn how they are maintaining and reviving their languages against the odds. How did the most linguistically diverse city in history come to be, and—given mounting threats—is peak diversity today?

These events are co-sponsored with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.