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Ross Perlin

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Ross Perlin (born 1982 or 1983) is an American linguist and co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance.[1] He has made significant contributions to the Languages of New York City map.[1]

Early life and education

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Perlin is a descendent of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants[2] and a fourth-generation New Yorker.[3] He grew up in Manhattan, moving away from the city at age 15.[4][5]

Perlin has a BA from Stanford University, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, an MA from the University of London (SOAS), and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Bern.[1] During his studies, he lived in Beijing for six months, where he focused on learning Chinese.[4] For his PhD, he worked in southwest China with a Trung-speaking community, producing "a trilingual dictionary, a corpus of recordings, and a descriptive grammar".[6]

Career

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As part of his linguistics PhD, Perlin studied and published a dictionary for Trung, a language spoken in the eastern Himalayas.[7] Perlin researched the languages of the Pamir region of Tajikistan for National Geographic.[8]

By 2012, Perlin was working with the as an assistant director for Endangered Language Alliance and as the leader of the organization's Jewish languages project.[9]

He is a lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia University.[6]

Writing

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Perlin contributed to the English translation of Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre (2020) by Liao Yiwu[10] and Chen Guangcheng's The Barefoot Lawyer (2015).[11]

In 2024, Perlin published Language City, an exploration of the least-known languages in New York City.[12] In this, he places a focus on trauma as the source for linguistic diversity in New York, especially that of immigrants fleeing persecution, violence, and famine.[13] An excerpt from the book was published in The Atlantic, highlighting the likelihood that many endangered languages will die out in the near future. He wrote, "Threats to immigration and immigrant lives, language loss in the homelands, and the gentrification of cities appear to be accelerating the cycle.[14]

Some journalists have speculated that a New York Times article highlighting Perlin's work may have inspired an anti-immigrant comment by President Donald Trump.[15]

Personal life

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Perlin moved back to New York City in 2011, and lives in Ridgewood, Queens as of 2024.[4] He married his wife, Cecil, in 2024.[4] He is Jewish.[3]

Publications

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Books

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  • Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy (Verso Books, 2012)[16][17][18][19]
  • Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024)[20][21][22]

Chapters

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  • Kaufman, Daniel; Perlin, Ross (2018-07-18). "Language Documentation in Diaspora Communities". In Rehg, Kenneth L.; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-087704-0.

Articles

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Honors and awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Ross Perlin | Department of Slavic Languages". slavic.columbia.edu.
  2. ^ Silow-Carroll, Andrew (2024-08-13). "Ross Perlin writes a love letter to New York — in Yiddish and 699 other languages". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  3. ^ a b c "Meet the New York Jewish Week's 36 to Watch 2024". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2024-05-29. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  4. ^ a b c d Okare, Fisayo (2024-07-22). "Linguist Ross Perlin's Quest to Preserve New York's Endangered Mother Tongues". Documented. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  5. ^ Carp, Alex (2024-02-22). "The World Capital of Endangered Languages". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  6. ^ a b "Ross Perlin". Department of Slavic Languages. Columbia University. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  7. ^ Perlin, Ross (2013-07-25). "Days of Wine and Rosaries: How to read the dictionary of an endangered language". Harper's Magazine. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  8. ^ "Explorer Home". explorers.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  9. ^ Ghert-Zand, Renee (2013-05-29). "Jewish Languages from Bukhori to Juhuri". The Forward. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  10. ^ Yiwu, Liao (2020). Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre (9781982126650 ed.). Atria/One Signal Publishers.
  11. ^ Guangcheng, Chen (2015). The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man's Fight for Justice and Freedom in China. Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0805098051.
  12. ^ Mask, Dierdre (February 19, 2024). "How to Speak New York". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  13. ^ Mask, Deirdre (2024-02-19). "How to Speak New York". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  14. ^ Perlin, Ross (2024-02-26). "The Last, Improbable Refuge for the World's Endangered Languages". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  15. ^ Grisar, P. J. (2024-03-01). "Did this pro-immigrant linguist inspire Donald Trump's latest anti-immigrant rant?". The Forward. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  16. ^ "Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy by Ross Perlin". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  17. ^ "INTERN NATION" – via Kirkus Reviews.
  18. ^ http://www.cpreview.org/blog/2011/05/this-is-your-life
  19. ^ Baviera, Inmaculada (2012-02-01). "Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy, by Ross Perlin". Labor History. 53 (1): 154–156. doi:10.1080/0023656X.2012.650451. ISSN 0023-656X.
  20. ^ Mask, Deirdre (February 19, 2024). "How to Speak New York". The New York Times.
  21. ^ "Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York by Ross Perlin". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  22. ^ "LANGUAGE CITY" – via Kirkus Reviews.
  23. ^ "Ross Perlin". The Forward. 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  24. ^ Cooper-Fiske, Casey (2024-10-22). "Book about preserving endangered languages wins British Academy Book Prize 2024". The Independent.
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