Neighborhood

Concourse

Bronx
In the Census-defined PUMA including Concourse, Highbridge & Mount Eden, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) "Niger-Congo languages", Mande, and French are recorded as having over 1000 speakers. Varieties of English and Spanish are widely spoken.
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Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

Adjoukrou

Mɔjukru
The only speakers of Appolo and Adjoukrou in New York known to ELA, both from Ivory Coast, are married to each other. In the city there are also likely to be speakers of Appolo (Nzema) from Ghana, where the majority live.

Appolo

Nzema
The only speakers of Appolo and Adjoukrou in New York known to ELA, both from Ivory Coast, are married to each other. In the city there are also likely to be speakers of Appolo (Nzema) from Ghana, where the majority live.

Balanta-Ganja

Balanta-Ganja
Speakers of Balanta, most of them likely to be Balanta-Ganja speakers from Senegal, are reported by a member of New York's Senegalese community to be living in the Bronx. NYC Department of Education data (from the Citywide Parent's Preferred Language Report 2011-2017) indicate that several dozen Balanta-speaking families may be enrolling children in city public schools each year.

Baïnounk

Bainounk
A portion of the city's growing Senegalese community comes from the province of Casamance, a distinct region south of The Gambia, with its own colonial history. A high degree of multilingualism is common both in Casamance and among New Yorkers from the region, with Jola the principal language and others speaking Mandjak, languages from the cluster known as Baïnounk, and the Portuguese-based Guinea-Bissau Creole.

Dyula

(ߖߎ߬ߟߊ߬ߞߊ߲ (ߒߞߏ
Dyula has long been an important lingua franca known to many in Ivory Coast, and many Ivorian New Yorkers who have been involved in trade or spent significant time in Abidjan know the language. Dyula speakers may be found at mosques frequented by Ivorians in Harlem and the Bronx, as well as in a small Ivorian community in East New York.

Ecuadorian Kichwa

Runasimi
A significant number of Kichwa speakers arrived as part of the larger migration from the largely Indigenous south-central highlands of Ecuador, particularly in the 1990s from the Azuay-Cañar region, but also via Quito, Cuenca, Otavalo, and Salasaca, among other places. In New York, they have settled near larger Ecuadorian and Latino communities in and around Corona (Queens), Ridgewood (Queens), Bushwick (Brooklyn), Parkchester (Bronx), and the suburb of Spring Valley. But there also appear to be distinctly Indigenous clusters related to town of origin, one example being the hundreds of Kisapincha families in and around Bushwick, of whom some have started moving to Canarsie due to rising rents. Community member and ELA collaborator Charlie Uruchima, who is also part of the Kichwa-language radio station Kichwa Hatari broadcasting from the Bronx, estimates that there may be as many as 8,000-10,000 speakers in the city.

French

Français
French has a long and complex history in New York, beginning with Huguenot refugees who played an important role in the city's early history and continuing with an influx of French immigrants in the 19th century who founded institutions in Chelsea and points north, as well as French Canadians whose national parish church until 1957 was St. Jean Baptiste in Lenox Hill. In the last decades of the 20th century, large numbers of speakers of French varieties arrived in the city from the Caribbean (especially from Haiti, where most speak the related Haitian Creole, but others prefer Standard French) as well as from West Africa, where French is an important lingua franca. Increasing numbers of French speakers from France and Canada have arrived in the city as well. A newer expat community is centered in part on the large French-American School in Larchmont.

Ghanaian English

Ghanaian English
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.

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.

Judeo-Spanish

Ladino
Moving north with other Jews from the Lower East Side, Ladino speakers formed a distinct community in the Bronx beginning in the 1920s and 30s, with the greatest concentration around the Grand Concourse in the 160s. The Sephardic Jew­ish Cen­ter on 169th under the charismatic Rabbi Asher Murciano was a prominent anchor institution before it moved to Forest Hills, but there were also informal social clubs like El Filo, often geared towards people whose families were originally from Izmir or Salonika or other specific hometowns. Many in the community continued to speak not only Ladino but also Greek and Turkish, while interacting and finding common ground with the increasing number of Spanish speakers from the Caribbean who settled nearby in the Bronx.

Kassonke

Xaasonga
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Konyanka

Konyanka
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Koulounkalan

Koulounkalan
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Mandinka

(لغة مندنكا ,ߡߊ߲߬ߘߌ߲߬ߞߊ (ߒߞߏ
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Maninka

(ߡߊߣߌ߲ߞߊߞߊ߲ (ߒߞߏ
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Marka

Dafinkan
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Senoufo

Senoufo
Senoufo is a cover term for a cluster of related languages spoken principally in northern Ivory Coast. Given the significant Ivorian community in Harlem and the Bronx, it's likely that multiple Senoufo languages are spoken in the city. NYC Department of Education data (from the Citywide Parent's Preferred Language Report 2011-2017) indicate that several hundred Senoufo-speaking families may be enrolling children in city public schools each year.

Susu

Sosoxui
The Mande language family comprises dozens of related languages spoken by tens of millions of people across West Africa. The most widely spoken Mande languages in New York belong to a subgroup called Manding, originally connected to the Mali empire which lasted until the 17th century and today forming a language and dialect continuum from Senegal to Burkina Faso. Among the most widely spoken Manding languages both in West Africa and New York are Bambara (Mali), Dyula (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Maninka (Guinea), and Mandinka (Gambia), which are substantially mutually intelligible. In fact, those who use the N'ko alphabet may refer to these varieties collectively as N'ko (which roughly translates to "I say" in all these varieties). New York today is home to over 12,000 "Mande" speakers according to (the likely very low figure in the) 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, with speakers often living near each other in parts of Harlem and the central Bronx.

Virgin Islands Creole

Dialect
The broad term Caribbean English refers to a whole range of Englishes — from highly distinctive creoles to "acrolectal" varieties close to other forms of English — spoken across much of the Caribbean. Beyond the varieties spoken by Jamaicans, Trinidadians, and Guyanese, which are the large Anglophone Caribbean communities in New York, there are also significant populations from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Virgin Islands who have brought their own specific Caribbean cultures to the city. A Caribbean presence in the city goes back centuries, but larger waves started coming in the early 20th century and especially beginning in the 1950s. Today there are individuals from 17 English-speaking nations and territories, with the largest numbers in Brooklyn from Flatbush into Canarsie, but also in southeast Queens and the northeast Bronx. The Labor Day Carnival in Brooklyn is a major annual event that unites all these communities in a common celebration.

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.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Akan
  • Ashanti
  • Dominican Spanish
  • Soninke
  • Twi
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Concourse

Bronx

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