WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE 2024

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.

Gorgeous...Perlin builds a compelling case for why preserving [languages] matters not just for the speakers, but for humanity itself * New York Times Book Review *
Superb...Wonderfully rich, Language City is in part an introduction to the diverse ways different languages work * Wall Street Journal *
Exuberant, radical...His evocation of New York's gorgeous, messy, imperfect diversity made me long for someone to do the same for London * Spectator *
A welcome reminder of the importance and vibrancy of the crisscross of languages at work in a multicultural city * Glasgow Herald *
A rewarding read. It challenges the idea that a universal language is a good thing * Irish Examiner *
Perlin documents his conversations with six speakers of endangered languages...with a sense of urgency, as though he is working against the clock to prevent these dialects from dying out * New Statesman *
Enthralling . . .Readers will be engrossed * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
A spirited celebration of a polyglot city...A convincing argument for linguistic multiplicity * Kirkus Reviews *
This is a guidebook to a secret New York in hundreds of languages, a map of the world written in the conversations of immigrants from places you've never heard of, a manifesto in defense of the value and beauty of the smallest language groups, a portrait of six particular speakers, and a celebration of what language is and these languages are. It's also a joyful, exciting narrative, and though Ross Perlin has wandered through so many languages, he writes this one, English, with vivid grace. Language City is a celebration of one city and all humanity, and you should read it -- Rebecca Solnit, author of ORWELL'S ROSES
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

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.