“Language Cities,” Turn-up the Languages Festival Lecture

Ross Perlin, “Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues”

Contemporary cities are the most linguistically diverse in history, even as half of the world’s 7000-plus languages are endangered. How did this happen, and what does it mean for the future of language? Ross Perlin, author of the new Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues, describes the race to document and support little-known languages, following 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. He also explores the languages themselves and the particular challenges and opportunities for language documentation, maintenance, and revitalization in urban areas.

Ross Perlin is a linguist, writer, and translator focused on exploring and supporting linguistic diversity. His book Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues was published this year by Grove in the US and the UK. Since 2013 he has been Co-Director of the Endangered Language Alliance in New York. He also teaches linguistics at Columbia. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s, and elsewhere, and his first book Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy ignited a national conversation about unpaid work. He has an MA in Language Documentation and Description from SOAS and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Bern.

From September 30 to October 7, celebrate all the languages of the Smith community at the Turn Up the Languages Festival. Whether you are staff, faculty, or student, join the campus-wide, multilingual conversation!

For seven days, you can participate, whether you are multilingual or not, by wearing a badge that tells others which language you can speak or which you can understand—a little, a lot, it doesn’t matter! Festival activities across the campus will provide opportunities to celebrate as we speak and learn.