بلتی
Balti
South JamaicaCommunity Profile: Encompassing Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, and Tibet, the greater Himalayan region is a nexus of cultural and linguistic diversity. In recent decades, tens of thousands people from various parts of the region have settled in Queens and Brooklyn, making New York into a new microcosm of Himalayan diversity. Central Tibetan or Nepali may serve as a lingua franca, and Himalayan New Yorkers are generally united by their connection to Tibetan culture, written language, tradition, and religion, including for some the Classical Tibetan language, but the diversity of their own languages and cultures is also substantial.
A
pproximately 300 speakers of Balti, Ladakhi, and Purgi — related languages from the neighboring Himalayan borderlands containing Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan Province and the disputed Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh areas under Indian control — have settled around the New York area, including the suburbs, with one of the longest-standing members of the community living in the east 90s in Manhattan. All speak Tibetic languages; Balti speakers are Shia Muslims who may use the Perso-Arabic script to write their language. Baltis who came to New York via Islamabad or Karachi may now be primarily Urdu speakers.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.