Our Language in Your Hands: New York City
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Abstract
This BBC Radio 4 series sees anthropologist and linguist Mark Turin visit Nepal, South Africa and New York to explore the fate of the world's endangered languages. In this final episode, Mark travels to New York City where a multitude of languages are spoken.
Description
'New York has long been a city of immigrants, and as a result of waves of immigration, language experts describe it as the most linguistically dense city on earth. Mark Turin travels to the Big Apple to track the many languages of New York. He travels the 7 train, designated a US Heritage Trail, as it rattles its way from Flushing to the heart of Manhattan, passing through areas where Korean, Bengali and Spanish are the languages spoken on the street. He meets the linguists who are tracking New York's many languages and hears from those who believe that the US needs to promote the English language ahead of all others. His journey ends with a story of linguistic rebirth as he discovers how the Yiddish language, once in decline, has attracted a new generation of speakers.'
