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The New Amsterdam History Center presents “Were 18 languages spoken in New Amsterdam?”

October 11, 2022, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Our colleagues at the New Amsterdam History Center present this virtual program by Ross Perlin, co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance.
It is often said that 18 languages were spoken in New Amsterdam. In researching his forthcoming linguistic history of New York, linguist Ross Perlin has discovered that there may have been many more than 18! He suggests a higher count that includes formerly overlooked languages spoken by the Indigenous population and the free and enslaved people brought here from Asia and Africa. He explores how the new port, New Amsterdam, was Native American, African, and European from the beginning, with the template for the city’s extraordinary multilingualism thus set at the very start of Dutch rule.
Ross Perlin (PhD University of Bern) is Co-Director of the Endangered Language Alliance, managing research projects on mapmaking, documentation, policy, and public programming for urban linguistic diversity.  He is a linguist, writer, and translator focused on exploring and supporting linguistic diversity.  He has also written on language, culture, and politics for The New York TimesThe GuardianHarper’s, and elsewhere.  He teaches linguistics at Columbia. In 2021-22 he was a Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation writing fellow at CUNY’s Gotham Center.

Register here to attend the program on Zoom.

Details

Date:
October 11, 2022
Time:
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Event Categories:
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Event Tags:
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Organizer

Old Stone House & Washington Park
Phone
718-768-3195
Email
info@theoldstonehouse.org
View Organizer Website

Venue

The Old Stone House at Washington Park
336 3rd Street
Brooklyn, 11215
+ Google Map
Phone
718.768.3195

Details

Date:
October 11, 2022
Time:
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Event Categories:
,
Event Tags:
, , , , , ,

Organizer

Old Stone House & Washington Park
Phone
718-768-3195
Email
info@theoldstonehouse.org
View Organizer Website

Venue

The Old Stone House at Washington Park
336 3rd Street
Brooklyn, 11215
+ Google Map
Phone
718.768.3195