Neighborhood

Clifton

Staten Island
In descending order, Urdu, Albanian, Russian, Polish, "Niger-Congo languages", Sinhalese, Italian, French, Cantonese are among the most widely spoken languages across the north shore of Staten Island, with at least 1000 speakers each, according to recent Census data. Varieties of English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic are also widely spoken. ELA data shows no significant sites for smaller language communities in this neighborhood.
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Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

African-American English

Black English
The history of African-Americans in Staten Island dates back to the early 19th century, when a group of formerly enslaved people established Sandy Ground, a free Black settlement on the south shore of the island. The descendants of this initial group still live in the community today. In recent decades, the Park Hill and Clifton neighborhoods have been a major center for African-American life in the borough — most famously represented by the hip-hop group Wu Tang Clan, which formed in the Stapleton Houses in 1992.

Ashanti

Ashanti
New York is home to a large and growing Ghanaian community centered on "Little Accra" in the Bronx stretching from the Grand Concourse up to Tracey Towers, with Ghanaian English and Twi serving as widely-known lingua francas. Ashanti, Akuapem (Twi), and Fante are all considered mutually intelligible varieties of Akan. Ghanaian New Yorkers from Accra, or who spent significant time in Accra, may be Ga speakers, and in the Bronx community there are also speakers of smaller languages such as Dagaare and Dagbani. The first wave of Ghanaians came to the city after the coup in 1966, with some working with the Black Star Line (Ghana Shipping Company) as seamen, and a large number arriving starting in the 1980s. There are now smaller communities in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, New Jersey, and Westchester. Those from northern Ghana may be part of the Yankasa Association, based in the Bronx. Records indicate that many of the enslaved Africans brought to New York in the 17th and 18th centuries may have been speakers of Akan varieties.

Hausa

هَوُسَا
Hausa speakers in the city may come from a number of places in West Africa and the Sahel, including northern Nigeria, Niger, and Ghana. The total number of users of the language internationally is around 75 million, accoridng to Ethnologue, with two thirds in Nigeria and nearly a third in total being second-language speakers. While thought to be less numerous than Yoruba and Igbo speakers in New York, Hausa speakers are nonetheless present in the large West African community in the Bronx and at Nigerian Muslim institutions in Brooklyn's Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and East New York, as well as in Harlem and on Staten Island.

Igbo

Asụsụ Igbo
Igbo speakers, representing one of the largest Nigerian communities in New York, live in a range of neighborhoods, with significant concentrations in every borough and Igbo-run businesses and churches becoming increasingly common. Based in St. Albans, Queens, the Igbo Organization New York sees well over 500 families at events throughout the year, and with an average of 7 or 8 people per family, the group estimates that New York City's Igbo population is at least 4,000, if not more. The community has worked to declare the first Saturday in July Igbo day. In response to families' concern that younger generations are not speaking Igbo, the Igbo Organization has started hosting summer language classes. A substantial community also exists in and around Newark.

Sinhalese

සිංහල
New York is home to the largest Sri Lankan community outside of Sri Lanka, concentrated in Staten Island's Tompkinsville neighborhood, with long-standing cultural institutions and acclaimed restaurants like Lakruwana and New Asha, as well as a community in and around Queens Village and one in New Jersey. Much of Sri Lanka's diversity is represented here, including not just the majority Sinhalese, but also Sri Lankan Tamils (who speak a distinct variety of that South Indian language), Sri Lankan Catholics (who have had Sinhalese mass at St. Adalbert's Church), and even a few Sri Lankan Malay speakers. The first groups of Sri Lankans started arriving in the United States in the 1950s, but it wasn't until the 1990s, during the Civil War that lasted until 2009, that large numbers of Sinhalese began arriving. All groups may also use a distinctive Sri Lankan English as a lingua franca.

Yoruba

Èdè Yorùbá
Representing what may be the largest Nigerian community, a range of speakers of different Yoruba varieties live across the metropolitan area, with significant concentrations in a stretch of Brooklyn across Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, and East New York, in southeast Queens, in the Bronx, and in Staten Island. Yoruba-language churches, often Pentecostal, are significant hubs, with some like CAC in Brooklyn having served the community for decades, as are Nigerian markets. A distinct form of Yoruba spread across the Black Atlantic to become Lukumí, a liturgical language of Santeria also widely used across the city.
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