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]

Contents

Early life and education

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

Perlin earned 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 doctoral research, he worked in southwest China with a Trung-speaking community, producing “a trilingual dictionary, a corpus of recordings, and a descriptive grammar”. [6]

Career

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

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

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

Writing

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 of Chen Guangcheng’s memoir The Barefoot Lawyer (2015). [11]

In 2024, Perlin published Language City, an exploration of lesser-known languages spoken in New York City. [12] The book highlights the role of trauma in shaping the city’s linguistic diversity, particularly among immigrants who have fled persecution, violence, and famine. [13] An excerpt published in The Atlantic emphasized the vulnerability of many endangered languages, with Perlin writing that “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 suggested that a New York Times article featuring Perlin’s work may have inspired an anti-immigrant comment later made by President Donald Trump. [15]

Personal life

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

Publications

Books

Chapters

Articles

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 "Meet the New York Jewish Week's 36 to Watch 2024". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2024-05-29. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 "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. ↑ Liao, Yiwu (2020). Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Atria/One Signal Publishers. ISBN   9781982126650.
  11. ↑ Chen, Guangcheng (2015). The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man's Fight for Justice and Freedom in China. Henry Holt and Co. ISBN   9780805098051.
  12. ↑ Mask, Deirdre (2024-02-19). "How to Speak New York". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  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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