Neighborhood

Chinatown

Manhattan
In the Census-defined PUMA including Chinatown & Lower East Side, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) Cantonese, Mandarin, and French each have at least 1000 speakers. English and Spanish varieties are widely spoken in the area as well.
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Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

Apulo-Lucano

Materano
While many of the first Italian New Yorkers were speakers of Ligurian, Piedmontese, Lombard, and Tuscan varieties, the overwhelming majority have been southerners who spoke forms of Sicilian, Neapolitan, Calabrese, and Pugliese. Given that less than 10 percent of the population spoke the national language (Italian) at the time of unification in the 19th century, most Italian New Yorkers were speakers of these (often not mutually intelligible) "dialects" who only learned Italian later, if at all. Diversity and clustering were the norm in all the major early Italian neighborhoods, with a Neapolitan-based koine reported as a common language among southern Italian immigrants. Little Italy and Greenwich Village were the crucible, but patterns were highly specific — for example Sicilians, especially from Sambucca, on Elizabeth Street, Neapolitans and Calabrians on Mulberry; Genoese on Baxter; Tyroleans and others from the far north of Italy on 69th Street by the Hudson, and so on. The first Italians in East Harlem, arriving in 1878, were reportedly from Polla in the province of Salerno, and settled in the vicinity of 115th Street; later, there was a Barese (Pugliese) community on East 112th Street; a group from Sarno near Naples on 107th; Calabrians on 109th; immigrants from Basilicata between 110th and 115th. Soon after, Calabrians, Campanians, and Sicilians involved with constructing streets, railways, and Croton Reservoir settled in the Bronx. Important areas where second- and third-generation Italian-Americans settled, as well as post-Second World War migrants who may still know the languages have included Bensonhurst, Ridgewood, Morris Park, much of Staten Island, and numerous New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester suburbs, to name just a few. Nearly all of the substantial linguistic diversity of southern Italy has been represented at some point in the New York area, but there have also been lesser-known but still substantial groups speaking varieties from places like Lazio (e.g. Ripa) and Emilia Romagna (e.g. Piacenza), as well as individuals and a few communities speaking very different northern varieties, such as Nones and Friulian in Queens.

Basque

Euskara
In 1913, a group of 13 Basques, originally working on the East River waterfront, formed the Centro Vasco-Americano, the first Basque Center in the United States, later with a permanent location at 48 Cherry Street in what is today Chinatown. During the Second World War, the city even played host to the Basque government-in-exile. While New York was just a port of entry for many Basque-Americans, a small community remained in New York and New Jersey, where their neighbors are Portuguese and Galicians in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood.

Cantonese

廣東話
Alongside the related variety Taishanese, Cantonese was one of the first Chinese languages to be widely spoken in New York City, decades before Mandarin became dominant following large-scale immigration from Taiwan and Chinese provinces beyond the southeast. Through at least the 1980s, the Cantonese varieties of China's Guangdong (Canton) province and Hong Kong remained the most common language in Manhattan's Chinatown, but most Cantonese speakers today live in the new Chinatowns of Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, and beyond in Brooklyn. Cantonese remains a major language throughout the metropolitan area including suburbs, but Mandarin and other varieties have become increasingly important in all the city's Chinatowns, particularly in Queens, reflecting language policies in China itself and a global shift in the composition of the Chinese diaspora.

Cherokee

ᏣᎳᎩ
Cherokee people and people with Cherokee ancestry and roots likely have a long history in New York, but published information is scarce. Some undoubtedly have had knowledge of the Cherokee language, which is being revived in North Carolina and elsewhere and has a famous syllabary writing system, and there have been efforts to teach Cherokee in New York City.

Emiliano

Emiliàn
On what came to be known (pejoratively) as the “Lung Block” on the Lower East Side, migrant communities from Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna (and from other areas in Tuscany and the north) lived alongside a diverse mix of southerners, with the local church named St. Joseph’s so as to be acceptable to all communities, according to researcher Stefano Morello. Later, like other New York Italian communities, many moved to outer borough and suburban areas like Bath Beach, where some with roots in and around Piacenza have maintained the Societa' Val Trebbia e Val Nure. Others moved to Copiague on Long Island.

Hakka

客家话, Hak-kâ-ngî
The Hakka are a subgroup of Han Chinese people from southern China but claiming origins in Northern and Central China, resulting in a language that shares elements of Northern Chinese varieties combined with sustained Cantonese influence. The Hakka presence in New York dates back at least to the late 19th century, but a much larger wave came after immigration reform in the 1960s. While the number of Hakka people worldwide is around 80 million, fewer actually speak the Hakka language today, with many having switched to Cantonese or local languages through assimilation both in China and in diaspora. Hakka organizations like Flushing's Hakka Alliance are attempting to reorient the community to Hakka culture and language.

Malay

Bahasa Melayu
Varieties of Malay are spoken across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei. Many Malaysian-born New Yorkers are ethnic Chinese, for whom Cantonese or other Chinese varieties are the mother tongue, with Malay as a second language. At least a small number of speakers of Brunei Malay may be associated with the sultanate's UN Mission. Not only are Malay and Indonesian closely related, but some members of the broader Indonesian community may speak Malay varieties including Betawi Malay, Central Malay, and Manado Malay.

Mandarin

普通话, 國語
Although it was not widely spoken in New York until recent decades, Mandarin today is probably today the city's third most widely spoken language and a lingua franca connecting Chinese New Yorkers from a variety of linguistic backgrounds—though not all speak it and in certain neighborhoods Cantonese or Fujianese, for example, remain important. Numerous, largely mutually intelligible Mandarin varieties are spoken in the city, from the originally Beijing-based standard "Putonghua" promoted by the mainland government to the Taiwanese Mandarin most widely used there. Particularly in Flushing there are also many speakers of Northeast Mandarin (from the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang) as well as of Southwest Mandarin (particularly those from Sichuan), as well as a growing community of Hui (Muslim) Chinese who speak forms of Northwestern Mandarin related historically to Dungan.

Native American English

Native American English
Native American English—described in detail in William Leap's 1993 study American Indian English—refers to a diverse group of English varieties spoken by Native Americas and Alaska Natives, including both those enrolled in hundreds of different tribes and also some who are unaffiliated. Influences from Native American Indigenous languages have been posited, as well as common phonological, intonation, and grammatical patterns which may be connected with the long history of disposession and dispersion which has brought diverse Native American groups into contact with one another, including today in New York.

Navajo

Diné Bizaad
Navajo, called Diné Bizaad by its speakers, remains one of the most widely Native American languages, and there have been individuals with knowledge of the language living far beyond the Navajo Nation territory in the southwest, including reports of some in New York.

Northern Fujianese

闽北语
A large wave of working-class Fujianese speakers, especially from in and around the city of Fuzhou in China's Fujian Province, arrived in New York in the 1980s and 90s, after China loosened its emigration restrictions. At the time, Manhattan's Chinatown was dominated by Cantonese speakers from China's Guangdong Province, so Fujianese people settled in and around East Broadway, where Chinatown slowly expanded. Today, most Fujianese New Yorkers speak Mandarin as well and have spread across the city's Chinese neighborhoods, including Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Flushing. The Fujianese spoken in Fuzhou is also called Eastern Min, highlighting its connections to a wider group of related Sinitic languages. Also spoken to a lesser degree in New York are forms of Northern Min, from the northern part of Fujian: one example being several speakers from the area around Jianyang and Wuyishan, where neighboring villages may speak very differently. Forms of Southern Min are also related and to some extent heard in New York's Chinese neighborhoods, including Hainanese, Teochew, and Taiwanese — the latter also called Hokkien and widely spoken in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora.

Shanghainese

上海话
Most Chinese speakers in the city, from the first half of the 19th century until the second half of the 20th, spoke southern Chinese varieties, notably forms of Taishanese and Cantonese, but significant numbers of speakers of northern Chinese varieties including official Mandarin, began arriving especially after the Second World War. Many were from Taiwan and established a community in and around Flushing, where other Chinese immigrants from all over gradually joined them. Today, with the largest Chinese population outside of Asia, the entire metro area is home to an extraordinary variety of Sinitic (Chinese) languages even beyond the most widely spoken (Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese, Taishanese, Wenzhounese, Hakka). Some represent distinct but related varieties of these (e.g. Northern Fujianese, Taiwanese, Teochew, and Hainanese are all part of the Min group, with the Fuzhou variety of Fujianese by far the most common in New York) but others are highly distinct. Reports about other smaller Chinese languages communities in the city are scarce, but within the Mandarin subgroup there seem to be substantial numbers of speakers of Northeastern Mandarin and Sichuanese, and within the Wu subgroup substantial numbers of speakers of Shanghainese and Changzhounese. There are an unknown number of speakers of Gan (Jiangxi) and Xiang (Hunan) and probably many other varieties, likely not living as distinct communities, but within a larger Chinese matrix where Mandarin (as in China itself) is increasingly the lingua franca and valorized standard.

Teochew

潮州话
Teochew, a variety of Southern Min Chinese from the area around Teochew (Chaozhou) in Guangdong Province, is also widely spoken in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in Thailand. Bo Ky is a Teochew restaurant in Chinatown. Some who speak the language in New York, like those who attend the Chour-Thai Reformed Church in Yonkers, came to New York via Thailand beginning in the 1970s.

Valencian

Valencià
Valencian is a variety of Catalan known by its speakers for their region of origin in Spain. In the first two decades of the 20th century, emigration from Valencia to New York was at its height, and the Hotel La Valenciana at 45 Cherry Street was an important waystation and gathering place for the community. See Teresa Moll's book Valencians to New York. The case of Marina Alta (1912-1920), which details the connection between a particular set of Valencian towns (the Marina Alta) and the Lower East Side as well as several Connecticut towns (Bridgeport, Shelton, New Britain, Waterbury).
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Fujianese
  • Hokkien
  • Northern Fujianese
  • Sichuanese
  • Taishanese
  • Vietnamese
  • Wenzhounese
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Chinatown

Manhattan

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AbakuáAbakuá

Caribbean

  • Cuba flag
    Cuba
Lower East Side

Smallest

Liturgical
AbazaАбаза

Western Asia

  • Turkey flag
    Turkey
  • Russia flag
    Russia
49,800
Abkhaz-Adyge
Wayne (NJ)

Smallest

Residential
Abruzzese (Orsognese)Abruzzésë

Southern Europe

  • Italy flag
    Italy
Indo-European
Astoria

Small

Residential
Abruzzese (Orsognese)Abruzzésë

Southern Europe

  • Italy flag
    Italy
Indo-European
Little Italy

Small

Historical
AcehneseBahsa Acèh

Southeastern Asia

  • Indonesia flag
    Indonesia
3,500,000
Austronesian
Astoria

Smallest

Community
AcehneseBahsa Acèh

Southeastern Asia

  • Indonesia flag
    Indonesia
3,500,000
Austronesian
Elmhurst

Smallest

Residential
AdjoukrouMɔjukru

Western Africa

  • Ivory Coast flag
    Ivory Coast
140,000
Atlantic-Congo
Concourse

Smallest

Residential
AdygheК|ахыбзэ

Western Asia

  • Turkey flag
    Turkey
  • Russia flag
    Russia
117,500
Abkhaz-Adyge
Wayne (NJ)

Small

Residential
AfenmaiAfenmai

Western Africa

  • Nigeria flag
    Nigeria
270,000
Atlantic-Congo
Castle Hill

Smallest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Bedford-Stuyvesant

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Newark (NJ)

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Clifton

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Hollis

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Edenwald

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Central Harlem

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Hempstead (NY)

Large

Residential
AfrikaansAfrikaans

Southern Africa

  • South Africa flag
    South Africa
  • Zimbabwe flag
    Zimbabwe
17,543,580
Indo-European
Murray Hill

Small

Community
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
Flatbush

Small

Residential
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
Shore Acres

Small

Residential
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
University Heights

Large

Residential

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