If No One Will Save Us, Then We Will Save Our Selves:
The Hudson Guild’s Alleviating Approach to the Gentrification in Chelsea
Regardless of where you are from, there is one thing every immigrant in America has to learn-- English. Moving to Santa Barbara from China at the age of thirteen, I am no exception. It feels odd at first to live in a place where English is the definite, unquestionable dominant language. People started to ask me questions like “What English class are you taking?” “Is it hard to communicate in English?” or “Has your English improved?” Rarely would someone ask “Do you still read Chinese books?” or “Are you still learning the Chinese language?”--because nobody cares. English is what determines my success at school, or every aspect of life, at least for now. English is what matters now. Could I write a sophisticated essay in Chinese? I will worry about that later. And on this issue, I know I am not alone. Immigrants struggle to learn English to fit in and to preserve their mother-tongues and culture at the same time. Trust me--it’s hard. Many foreign languages in immigrant families don’t live more than two generations because so often, English dominates over the need to preserve one’s root. That’s how language assimilation occurs. Language endangerment has become a serious problem that few people are aware of. Some linguists believe that by the end of this century, half of the languages we have today will not be spoken anymore (Thurman). We marvel at the linguistic diversity of America, but frequently ignore the fast-paced language assimilation it follows. And nowhere does it happen faster than in New York City, ironically, the language capital of the world.
“New York has always been a city of immigrants within a country of immigrants” (Avni 72). There are approximately 800 languages spoken in New York alone. For many small languages, there is a bigger chance of hearing them on the streets of New York than in their homelands because, as a direct result of globalization, speakers of minor languages, especially young ones, migrate from remote villages to New York. Here is one example: In a rural village in Nepal, a few miles from the Tibetan border, every household has a son or daughter who is living in New York (Turin). No one better describes New York as a dreamland that welcomes people from every corner of the world than Rebecca Solnit. In her opening essay “Centers and Edges” of her New York Atlas: Nonstop Metropolis, she writes, “The city accommodated all kinds of wishes” (5). In tension with this dreamland—what Sam Roberts calls a “magnet for immigrants and their languages”—is the fact that NYC has also been described as a “graveyard for languages” (Turin). This irony is not coincidental or controversial--NYC’s diversity is exactly what causes its large-scale language assimilation.
Other than globalization, in the past, languages have gone endangered mainly due to three reasons: diseases and natural disasters, war and genocide, and political oppression. On rare occasions, diseases or natural disasters can decimate a whole community, along with its language (Turin). Similarly, a war or a genocide may take away people’s lives as well as their languages (Roberts). More common is political oppression. Because of the political insecurity of some governments, some countries encourage assimilation to make it easier to govern. Many colonial rulers have forbidden the speaking of their one’s mother-tongue as a way to make their colony submissive. Although it may not sound as harmful, compulsory schooling in a national tongue is highly responsible for language endangerment throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and many more countries. In fact, due to this system, many students were abused and over 50,000 were killed in Canada alone ("An Urban Initiative"). The residential school system made it extremely difficult for the Native American students to learn their native tongue because students were beaten for speaking their own languages. From the 1880s to the 1970s, the forced assimilation of First Nation Children in Canada was imposed by law (Thurman).
It is true that assimilation can bring many benefits, but regrettably saving languages is not one of them. With globalization acting as a catalyst, language assimilation is happening faster than ever, not only in New York but everywhere in the world. In immigrant-magnet cities like New York, many young people feel that it is pointless to be able to speak their native tongue because, with English and Spanish, they can get along just fine. Eventually, indigenous languages die as the old people who speak them pass away (Roberts). A massive apartment block in Jackson Heights may house speakers of more than forty languages, but the only common tongue is English (Turin).
I am glad I don’t have to be under the pressure of saving my native tongue because I know in my homeland, there are more than a billion people speaking it and passing it down to future generations. Some immigrants in New York don’t have this luxury. The speakers of endangered languages often carry the responsibility of preserving their language. Some communities have completely disappeared in the homelands, such as the Gottscheers, a community of Germanic people, and the last speaker of their language has ended up in Queens (Turin). Being the last speaker of your language may make you feel lonely and helpless; the pressure of the death and life of your language may feel crushing.
But instead of saving a dying language, why don’t we just let it go? People may argue that language death is a world trend, an unavoidable side effect of globalization that we should all embrace rather than resist.
What is the point of speaking a language if nobody else speaks it anymore?
There are many reasons to save languages. Language is the accumulation of thousands years of knowledge. MIT professor Ken Kale said that losing one language “is like dropping a bomb on the Louvre” (qtd. in “An Urban Initiative”). Indeed, languages carry immense scientific, historical, and cultural value that are vital to the society in many ways.
First, modern linguists believe that our inborn linguistic capabilities set the limits of the variation of languages. To understand our abilities, it required scientists to find commonality shared by all languages. Each language has its uniqueness that gives us a different angle to this problem. Losing a language means we lose a valuable resource on the path of understanding languages ("An Urban Initiative"). Second, some important medical and biological knowledge is not profiled in Western science--it is only recorded in indigenous languages (Thurman). Ethnobotany, a study of plants and their uses learned through the tradition and knowledge of the indigenous people, is the perfect proof of this. According to ethnobotanists Alan Cox and Balick, medications as common as quinine, aspirin, and codeine are all contributed by the guidance of indigenous people (Thurman). There is a lot we can learn by looking at a language, no matter how small. The Haunóo, a tribe of farmers in the Philippines, have forty expressions for types of soil (Thurman). In terms of medicine and science, each endangered language functions as a window open to a new world. Third, languages can provide critical information to the history of their speakers. For example, many people had believed that Sanskrit was invented in India. However, after noticing the similarity between Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, Sir William Jones suggested that these three languages share the same origin, and then he put forward the theory that Sanskrit was brought to India from Central Asia, where all three languages originated. He concluded that the speakers of Sanskrit, the Indo-Aryans, were also from outside of India. This Indo-Aryan migration theory is a huge historical breakthrough, and this piece of linguistic evidence found by Jones contributed significantly to the confirmation of this theory (The Story of India). The similarities between languages can tell us a lot about the history and migration route of different civilizations. When we lose a language, there is an important piece of knowledge we lose about one civilization.
I conducted an interview with Ross Perlin, a writer, linguist, and also assistant director of the Endangered Language Alliance. According to Perlin, “Smaller languages and cultures are valuable not just for the wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and literature they contain, but also as a matter of justice — ” he continued, “ because of the importance of mother-tongue education, because of past and present persecution, because the speakers of these languages have been relegated to the margins time and time again.” The decline of a language is often linked with invaders taking over the indigenous people’s territory and wiping out their traditional culture ("An Urban Initiative"). People face discrimination for speaking their own language, which violates basic human rights. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that people are entitled to the freedom and rights declared without distinction of their languages. If asked why the Native Americans seem to all have disappeared, people might say the Native Americans have willingly blended into the American society ("An Urban Initiative"). However, in recent history, with their territory being pushed to the margin, the languages and culture of Native America are dying down along with their population ("An Urban Initiative"). Language endangerment is intimately linked with the discrimination a culture is facing. Saving languages is a peaceful campaign for justice and rights.
James Lovell, who teaches Garifuna language in New York, decided to expose this native language to his younger children. He believes: “It[Garifuna]’s going to give them a sense of self, to know themselves. The fact that they’re speaking the language is empowerment in itself” (qtd. in Roberts). Indeed, languages can give their speakers a sense of belonging, as Daniel Kaufman, the director of the Endangered Language Alliance, explains: “The language defines the community and strengthens the community. When people lose that language, they lose a big part of their identity. There are quite real effects for communities that lose their language--you’re living with their defeat. Native American groups feel this way--language is the marker of their survival” (qtd. in Mehta 197-98).
In New York, language diversity has another layer of meaning. Cultural diversity is what distinguishes New York as unique and free, and the number of languages is the most direct measure of that. It is a city where half of the population speaks a language other than English at home. Diversity is the soul of NYC. New York incarnates diversity. In New York by 1643, with a population of merely 500, there were already 18 languages being spoken (Mehta 195). Since day one, New York was destined to be the melting pot she is now. In how many languages can you say the word “New York”? 100? 500? 1000? The number of languages spoken in New York fascinates me, and I believe, many others. It is the coexistence of races, religions, cultures, and languages that make the city so generative. The heterogeneity gives New York a power--in the various ways people can describe the world (Solnit 194).
The real question is--how do we preserve languages? “It’s hard to use a word like preserve with a language,” said Robert Holman, a poet and language activist. “It’s not like putting jelly in a jar. A language is used. Language is consciousness” (qtd. in Roberts). Language is not something we could physically grasp--it can be saved only by people speaking it. Languages are not machine-made; they are what people think in, dream in, talk in. That’s the challenge with preserving language--it’s so abstract, and yet so real. People don’t commonly consider languages as “valuable.” Because these endangered languages are often ignored, many of them have little or no recording, and few people have done field research on them.
The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) is one of the few organization that cares about language deaths. This organization is a nonprofit in New York that strives to save endangered languages. ELA sorted their methods to preserve languages in four categories: documentation, art and music, outreach, and revitalization. For documentation, ELA staff digitally record languages with little written materials. The goal is to make these recordings useful to today’s language learners and linguists, and keep a record of a language in case it goes extinct in the future. Evidence has shown that with enough records, on rare occasions even an extinct language can be revived (Thurman). ELA also engages with the arts of minor language communities because arts and music are essential to culture. In many cases, when a language is not frequently used anymore, its songs are still being sung. Music and arts can be the last carrier of languages. ELA also reaches endangered language speakers in the community to encourage them to support their mother language for future generations, and at the same time, ELA raises public awareness through exhibits, films, presentation, etc. in the community. Last, but certainly not least, is revitalization. The term “revitalization” refers to saving languages by bringing it to the young generation. ELA hosts endangered language classes that are rarely offered in other places. It is extremely important that today’s children have the opportunity to learn their native language and the value it carries.
The future of the endangered languages depends on the youth and in the hands of the parents among the remaining speakers. David Harrison, the director of research at the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, sees the challenge to revitalize languages as to “increase the prestige of a language so that the young embrace it” (qtd. in Thurman). The parents have to be determined to set a good example for the children and teach them both the fluency of language and the self-worth of speaking it. Then it’s up to the children to learn. In modern days, minor languages have to find a way to coexist with “bully” (Thurman) languages, such as English and Spanish, because even the ethnic communities that are able to preserve their languages are always socially isolated. A classic example is Latvian, which was taught in summer camps for children entirely in Latvian (Mehta 197). Multilingualism seems to be the only way to balance the social needs and native tongue preservation.
An important thing to note is that the media can be influential in language education. Part of Harrison’s mission is to “technologize language” (Thurman). The internet makes it easier for people to learn languages. Many tribes now have a Website, and there are apps and YouTube channels for people to learn endangered languages. Radio can reach people who live far from their ethnic communities, and as you can imagine, hearing their native tongue on the radio can greatly boost their sense of self-worth.
In conclusion, New York’s many languages are dying because of the massive assimilation brought by globalization, and the best thing we can do is to educate the young children of their native language--because of the knowledge it carries, and also as a movement for justice. Perhaps many see New York as the “graveyard” for languages, but some linguists see it as a “hunting ground” (Turin). For example, Sam Roberts calls it a rich “laboratory” for languages. In my interview with Ross Perlin, he explains: “Newly hyperdiverse cities like New York can play an important role as places to document, appreciate, and support endangered languages.” I hope that one day, the contribution New York makes to preserve languages can redeem the world for its crimes against language. Maybe, after all, it is the land that creates wonders.
“New York has always been a city of immigrants within a country of immigrants” (Avni 72). There are approximately 800 languages spoken in New York alone. For many small languages, there is a bigger chance of hearing them on the streets of New York than in their homelands because, as a direct result of globalization, speakers of minor languages, especially young ones, migrate from remote villages to New York. Here is one example: In a rural village in Nepal, a few miles from the Tibetan border, every household has a son or daughter who is living in New York (Turin). No one better describes New York as a dreamland that welcomes people from every corner of the world than Rebecca Solnit. In her opening essay “Centers and Edges” of her New York Atlas: Nonstop Metropolis, she writes, “The city accommodated all kinds of wishes” (5). In tension with this dreamland—what Sam Roberts calls a “magnet for immigrants and their languages”—is the fact that NYC has also been described as a “graveyard for languages” (Turin). This irony is not coincidental or controversial--NYC’s diversity is exactly what causes its large-scale language assimilation.
Other than globalization, in the past, languages have gone endangered mainly due to three reasons: diseases and natural disasters, war and genocide, and political oppression. On rare occasions, diseases or natural disasters can decimate a whole community, along with its language (Turin). Similarly, a war or a genocide may take away people’s lives as well as their languages (Roberts). More common is political oppression. Because of the political insecurity of some governments, some countries encourage assimilation to make it easier to govern. Many colonial rulers have forbidden the speaking of their one’s mother-tongue as a way to make their colony submissive. Although it may not sound as harmful, compulsory schooling in a national tongue is highly responsible for language endangerment throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and many more countries. In fact, due to this system, many students were abused and over 50,000 were killed in Canada alone ("An Urban Initiative"). The residential school system made it extremely difficult for the Native American students to learn their native tongue because students were beaten for speaking their own languages. From the 1880s to the 1970s, the forced assimilation of First Nation Children in Canada was imposed by law (Thurman).
It is true that assimilation can bring many benefits, but regrettably saving languages is not one of them. With globalization acting as a catalyst, language assimilation is happening faster than ever, not only in New York but everywhere in the world. In immigrant-magnet cities like New York, many young people feel that it is pointless to be able to speak their native tongue because, with English and Spanish, they can get along just fine. Eventually, indigenous languages die as the old people who speak them pass away (Roberts). A massive apartment block in Jackson Heights may house speakers of more than forty languages, but the only common tongue is English (Turin).
I am glad I don’t have to be under the pressure of saving my native tongue because I know in my homeland, there are more than a billion people speaking it and passing it down to future generations. Some immigrants in New York don’t have this luxury. The speakers of endangered languages often carry the responsibility of preserving their language. Some communities have completely disappeared in the homelands, such as the Gottscheers, a community of Germanic people, and the last speaker of their language has ended up in Queens (Turin). Being the last speaker of your language may make you feel lonely and helpless; the pressure of the death and life of your language may feel crushing.
But instead of saving a dying language, why don’t we just let it go? People may argue that language death is a world trend, an unavoidable side effect of globalization that we should all embrace rather than resist.
What is the point of speaking a language if nobody else speaks it anymore?
There are many reasons to save languages. Language is the accumulation of thousands years of knowledge. MIT professor Ken Kale said that losing one language “is like dropping a bomb on the Louvre” (qtd. in “An Urban Initiative”). Indeed, languages carry immense scientific, historical, and cultural value that are vital to the society in many ways.
First, modern linguists believe that our inborn linguistic capabilities set the limits of the variation of languages. To understand our abilities, it required scientists to find commonality shared by all languages. Each language has its uniqueness that gives us a different angle to this problem. Losing a language means we lose a valuable resource on the path of understanding languages ("An Urban Initiative"). Second, some important medical and biological knowledge is not profiled in Western science--it is only recorded in indigenous languages (Thurman). Ethnobotany, a study of plants and their uses learned through the tradition and knowledge of the indigenous people, is the perfect proof of this. According to ethnobotanists Alan Cox and Balick, medications as common as quinine, aspirin, and codeine are all contributed by the guidance of indigenous people (Thurman). There is a lot we can learn by looking at a language, no matter how small. The Haunóo, a tribe of farmers in the Philippines, have forty expressions for types of soil (Thurman). In terms of medicine and science, each endangered language functions as a window open to a new world. Third, languages can provide critical information to the history of their speakers. For example, many people had believed that Sanskrit was invented in India. However, after noticing the similarity between Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, Sir William Jones suggested that these three languages share the same origin, and then he put forward the theory that Sanskrit was brought to India from Central Asia, where all three languages originated. He concluded that the speakers of Sanskrit, the Indo-Aryans, were also from outside of India. This Indo-Aryan migration theory is a huge historical breakthrough, and this piece of linguistic evidence found by Jones contributed significantly to the confirmation of this theory (The Story of India). The similarities between languages can tell us a lot about the history and migration route of different civilizations. When we lose a language, there is an important piece of knowledge we lose about one civilization.
I conducted an interview with Ross Perlin, a writer, linguist, and also assistant director of the Endangered Language Alliance. According to Perlin, “Smaller languages and cultures are valuable not just for the wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and literature they contain, but also as a matter of justice — ” he continued, “ because of the importance of mother-tongue education, because of past and present persecution, because the speakers of these languages have been relegated to the margins time and time again.” The decline of a language is often linked with invaders taking over the indigenous people’s territory and wiping out their traditional culture ("An Urban Initiative"). People face discrimination for speaking their own language, which violates basic human rights. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that people are entitled to the freedom and rights declared without distinction of their languages. If asked why the Native Americans seem to all have disappeared, people might say the Native Americans have willingly blended into the American society ("An Urban Initiative"). However, in recent history, with their territory being pushed to the margin, the languages and culture of Native America are dying down along with their population ("An Urban Initiative"). Language endangerment is intimately linked with the discrimination a culture is facing. Saving languages is a peaceful campaign for justice and rights.
James Lovell, who teaches Garifuna language in New York, decided to expose this native language to his younger children. He believes: “It[Garifuna]’s going to give them a sense of self, to know themselves. The fact that they’re speaking the language is empowerment in itself” (qtd. in Roberts). Indeed, languages can give their speakers a sense of belonging, as Daniel Kaufman, the director of the Endangered Language Alliance, explains: “The language defines the community and strengthens the community. When people lose that language, they lose a big part of their identity. There are quite real effects for communities that lose their language--you’re living with their defeat. Native American groups feel this way--language is the marker of their survival” (qtd. in Mehta 197-98).
In New York, language diversity has another layer of meaning. Cultural diversity is what distinguishes New York as unique and free, and the number of languages is the most direct measure of that. It is a city where half of the population speaks a language other than English at home. Diversity is the soul of NYC. New York incarnates diversity. In New York by 1643, with a population of merely 500, there were already 18 languages being spoken (Mehta 195). Since day one, New York was destined to be the melting pot she is now. In how many languages can you say the word “New York”? 100? 500? 1000? The number of languages spoken in New York fascinates me, and I believe, many others. It is the coexistence of races, religions, cultures, and languages that make the city so generative. The heterogeneity gives New York a power--in the various ways people can describe the world (Solnit 194).
The real question is--how do we preserve languages? “It’s hard to use a word like preserve with a language,” said Robert Holman, a poet and language activist. “It’s not like putting jelly in a jar. A language is used. Language is consciousness” (qtd. in Roberts). Language is not something we could physically grasp--it can be saved only by people speaking it. Languages are not machine-made; they are what people think in, dream in, talk in. That’s the challenge with preserving language--it’s so abstract, and yet so real. People don’t commonly consider languages as “valuable.” Because these endangered languages are often ignored, many of them have little or no recording, and few people have done field research on them.
The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) is one of the few organization that cares about language deaths. This organization is a nonprofit in New York that strives to save endangered languages. ELA sorted their methods to preserve languages in four categories: documentation, art and music, outreach, and revitalization. For documentation, ELA staff digitally record languages with little written materials. The goal is to make these recordings useful to today’s language learners and linguists, and keep a record of a language in case it goes extinct in the future. Evidence has shown that with enough records, on rare occasions even an extinct language can be revived (Thurman). ELA also engages with the arts of minor language communities because arts and music are essential to culture. In many cases, when a language is not frequently used anymore, its songs are still being sung. Music and arts can be the last carrier of languages. ELA also reaches endangered language speakers in the community to encourage them to support their mother language for future generations, and at the same time, ELA raises public awareness through exhibits, films, presentation, etc. in the community. Last, but certainly not least, is revitalization. The term “revitalization” refers to saving languages by bringing it to the young generation. ELA hosts endangered language classes that are rarely offered in other places. It is extremely important that today’s children have the opportunity to learn their native language and the value it carries.
The future of the endangered languages depends on the youth and in the hands of the parents among the remaining speakers. David Harrison, the director of research at the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, sees the challenge to revitalize languages as to “increase the prestige of a language so that the young embrace it” (qtd. in Thurman). The parents have to be determined to set a good example for the children and teach them both the fluency of language and the self-worth of speaking it. Then it’s up to the children to learn. In modern days, minor languages have to find a way to coexist with “bully” (Thurman) languages, such as English and Spanish, because even the ethnic communities that are able to preserve their languages are always socially isolated. A classic example is Latvian, which was taught in summer camps for children entirely in Latvian (Mehta 197). Multilingualism seems to be the only way to balance the social needs and native tongue preservation.
An important thing to note is that the media can be influential in language education. Part of Harrison’s mission is to “technologize language” (Thurman). The internet makes it easier for people to learn languages. Many tribes now have a Website, and there are apps and YouTube channels for people to learn endangered languages. Radio can reach people who live far from their ethnic communities, and as you can imagine, hearing their native tongue on the radio can greatly boost their sense of self-worth.
In conclusion, New York’s many languages are dying because of the massive assimilation brought by globalization, and the best thing we can do is to educate the young children of their native language--because of the knowledge it carries, and also as a movement for justice. Perhaps many see New York as the “graveyard” for languages, but some linguists see it as a “hunting ground” (Turin). For example, Sam Roberts calls it a rich “laboratory” for languages. In my interview with Ross Perlin, he explains: “Newly hyperdiverse cities like New York can play an important role as places to document, appreciate, and support endangered languages.” I hope that one day, the contribution New York makes to preserve languages can redeem the world for its crimes against language. Maybe, after all, it is the land that creates wonders.
Works Cited
Avni, Sheerly. “My Yiddishe Papa.” Solnit and Jelly-Schapiro, pp. 69-76.
"An Urban Initiative for Endangered Language Research and Conservation." Endangered
Language Alliance. Endangered Language Alliance, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
Mehta, Suketu. “Tower of Scrabble.” Solnit and Jelly-Schapiro, pp. 195-198.
Perlin, Ross. Personal interview. 17 Feb. 2017.
Roberts, Sam. "Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 28 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Solnit, Rebecca, and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, eds. Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas.
Oakland: U of California, 2016. Print.
The Story of India. Dir. Jeremy Jeffs. Perf. Michael Wood. BBC, 2007. DVD.
Thurman, Judith. "A Loss for Words." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2015. Web.
22 Feb. 2017.
Turin, Mark. "New York, a Graveyard for Languages." BBC News. BBC, 16 Dec. 2012. Web.
21 Feb. 2017.
Avni, Sheerly. “My Yiddishe Papa.” Solnit and Jelly-Schapiro, pp. 69-76.
"An Urban Initiative for Endangered Language Research and Conservation." Endangered
Language Alliance. Endangered Language Alliance, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
Mehta, Suketu. “Tower of Scrabble.” Solnit and Jelly-Schapiro, pp. 195-198.
Perlin, Ross. Personal interview. 17 Feb. 2017.
Roberts, Sam. "Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 28 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Solnit, Rebecca, and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, eds. Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas.
Oakland: U of California, 2016. Print.
The Story of India. Dir. Jeremy Jeffs. Perf. Michael Wood. BBC, 2007. DVD.
Thurman, Judith. "A Loss for Words." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2015. Web.
22 Feb. 2017.
Turin, Mark. "New York, a Graveyard for Languages." BBC News. BBC, 16 Dec. 2012. Web.
21 Feb. 2017.