The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

founded in 2010 to document the least-known languages in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

. As reported by '' Language Magazine'', "The ELA's methodology relies on longstanding collaborations between linguists and communities as well as ongoing conversations between academics and speakers of endangered languages". It is the only organization in the world focused on linguistic diversity of urban areas.

Mission and programs

The ELA's mission is to forge a future for languages. The organization's network is an extended family of linguists, language activists, community leaders, students, volunteers, and lovers of language in NYC and the world over. The organization works to support linguistic diversity through documentation, research, education and community engagement.

Documentation

A key aim of the alliance is to document endangered languages through various methods, including audio recordings, video recordings, and transcriptions. This documentation is used to create archives of endangered languages and to develop teaching and learning materials. One such project is the "Voices of the Himalayas" project, which recorded speakers of Mustangi and Kyirong, among other Tibetan languages. ELA has also worked to document

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language. The Garifuna ...

and Mamuju. Another volunteer project aimed to collect P'urhépecha literature, digitize it, and translate it into English and Spanish.

Research

Additionally, work is undertaken to support research on endangered languages through grants and fellowships. This research helps to better understand the structure and function of endangered languages and to develop strategies for language revitalization. ELA has undertaken a language census to determine the number of languages spoken in New York City, estimating them at around 800, with

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

as the most linguistically diverse burough. They have published data on the city's languages and released a map showing where each language is spoken.

Education

The ELA also offers a variety of educational programs on endangered languages, including workshops, seminars, and conferences. These programs are designed to raise awareness of endangered languages and to provide training in language documentation and revitalization. ELA was involved with

David Grubin David Grubin (born 1944) is an American documentary filmmaker. Career Grubin is best known for producing television documentaries for PBS, notably ''American Experience'' and ''Healing And The Mind with Bill Moyers''. His work has won two Alfred ...

's documentary '' Language Matters with Bob Holman'', which was released in January 2015 through PBS.

Community engagement

The organization works with communities of speakers of endangered languages to support their efforts to revitalize their languages. This support includes providing funding for language programs, developing teaching and learning materials, and promoting the use of endangered languages in public spaces. Some such projects have included

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

classes (in 2017 and 2018), a

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

and children's books in five Pamiri languages. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the ELA helped to produce educational materials on

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

, treatments, and

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...

in indigenous languages for residents of

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

. The work was financed by a grant from the

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (also known as NYC Health) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaura ...

. The ELA also organized the "Diaries from the Epicenter" project, in which speakers of Himalayan (Amdolese, Loke, Tibetan,

Dolpo Dolpo ( ) is a high-altitude culturally Tibetan region in the upper part of the Dolpa District of western Nepal, bordered in the north by China.. Part of the region lies in Shey Phoksundo National Park. The sparse, agro-pastoral population, ...

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language ...

, Yolmo, Nepali) and indigenous American (including Me’phaa,

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerre ...

, and K’iche’) endangered languages shared their thoughts on quarantine and gave advice. ELA also is able to broadcast radio, allowing for the airing of such programs as the volunteer-hosted ''ALCAL (Latin and Central American Linguists)'' ''radio'' and Voces sin Frontera, a program in Spanish, K’iche’,

Totonac The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...

, and

Kichwa Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. Classification Kichwa belongs to the Nor ...

In media

The Endangered Language Alliance was featured in the book ''Language City'' by Ross Perlin, the organization's co-director. The book discusses the rich linguistic history of New York, from the

word Manaháhtaan to present-day minority languages. In the book, Perlin visits a six-story apartment building in

Flatbush Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

that has been the home of about 100 speakers of Seke, a Tibetan-Burman language which is spoken by just 700 people in the world.

References

2010 establishments in New York City {{USA-org-stub Endangered languages Languages of New York (state) Non-profit organizations based in New York City Organizations established in 2010