Ross Perlin

Race against time with the linguist and co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance, in his effort to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history: contemporary New York.

Half of all 7,000-plus human languages may disappear over the next century – and many have never been recorded. Perlin recounts the unique history of immigration that shaped New York City, and follows six remarkable speakers of endangered languages into their communities, taking us on a fascinating tour of unusual grammars, rare sounds and powerful cultural histories from around the world. Language City was the winner of the British Academy Book Prize 2024.