A new project led by linguist Ross Perlin aims to map London’s endangered languages, shedding light on one of the world’s most linguistically diverse cities. Perlin, co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) in New York, envisions London as a valuable counterpart to New York’s efforts in documenting small and at-risk language communities. The ELA project in New York serves as a model, documenting over 700 languages with open-source tools and community input.
“It is vital to protect and understand the diversity of languages spoken in a city because of the human knowledge and culture they hold,” Perlin remarked after receiving the British Academy Book Prize for his book, Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues, according to an article in The Guardian.
The project proposes to chart linguistic diversity across London’s boroughs, especially in communities often isolated by high housing costs and urban pressures. Perlin sees the map as a tool for revealing how languages like Kurdish, Cypriot, and Nepalese Seke survive in specific areas, reflecting London’s complex migration patterns. Perlin points to Green Lanes in Haringey as an example where Turkic languages, alongside Bulgarian and Italian dialects, converge. However, economic and social challenges continue to pressure these communities, with relocation often forcing groups to less culturally supportive areas.
Prior studies on London’s linguistic demographics have noted concentrations of Polish in Croydon, Punjabi in Ealing, and French in Camden, but Perlin aims to go beyond these broader strokes. His focus is on smaller endangered communities at a time when nearly half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people.
Still in its early stages, the project reflects a growing awareness of linguistic endangerment in cities. Perlin has observed that London could rival New York in linguistic diversity, suggesting that such diversity deserves the same recognition as other celebrated aspects of urban life. “There’s always a logic behind the movement of a small language group,” he notes, highlighting that each language carries unique histories that, if undocumented, risk being lost in the evolving urban landscape.
