Neighborhood

Douglaston-Little Neck

Queens
In the Census-defined PUMA including Bayside, Douglaston & Little Neck, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) Mandarin, Cantonese, Greek, Italian, and Russian each have more than 1000 speakers. English, Spanish, and Korean 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:

Classical Armenian

Գրաբար
The earliest substantial Little Armenia in Manhattan, Murray Hill is today still home to three major Armenian churches representing some of these complex, historically rooted denominational differences, as well as the famous food emporium Kalustyan's. St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church of Long Island is a major institution serving the Armenian community in eastern Queens.

Matinecock

Matinecock
Most of the Matinecock, the Native American group Indigenous to what is now eastern Queens, were either killed or driven east to Long Island in the 17th century, but in 1931 a large native burial site was excavated by developers at the Zion Church on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, where some of the last native speakers are likely interred today. A modern-day tribal leader, Osceola Townsend, has said that some 200 Matinecock families live in and around Queens, and the group is still fighting for official government recognition.

Okinawan

うちなーぐち
Okinawan is a broad term that may encompass several related but in some cases mutually unintelligible Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu islands of Japan, including Okinawa. Most Ryukyuan languages are now considered endangered, under intense pressure from Japanese. Okinawan dancer Junko Fisher, based in Douglaston, helps maintain the culture through dance. The Okinawan American Association of New York, with many members in New Jersey, includes both some new arrivals direct from Okinawa and some who are descendants of Okinawan families who migrated to Peru over 100 years ago.

Southern Lazio

Ciociaro
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.

Tamil

தமிழ்
Community leaders at New York's Tamil Sangam estimate that 5,500-6,000 Tamil families live in New York City and Long Island, comprising roughly 18,000-20,000 individuals (cf. 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, which estimated 5,122 speakers in NYC). The community is split roughly evenly between Sri Lankan Tamils, most of whom live on Staten Island, and South Indian Tamils, who are spread out across all five boroughs, with concentrations in Queens and New Jersey, including a linguistically distinct community of Iyengar Tamils and a community of Guyanese Tamils who have established a temple (or kovil) in Rosedale. Flushing's major Hindu Temple Society of North America was founded by a Tamil in 1970, and Tamil-owned restaurants exist across the city, including Anjappar and an outpost of the famous Saravana Bhavan chain in Manhattan's Curry Hill. While Tamil remains vigorous, often spoken at home and with a long and proud literary tradition, Tamil families also encourage children to attend courses at organizations like the New York Tamil Academy to learn grammar and script from the Kural, a central text of the Tamil people composed sometime between 300 BCE and 500 CE.

Western Armenian

Արեւմտահայերէն
Following initial settlement in Manhattan, many Armenians began moving to Queens after the Second World War. The community in Sunnyside, also an important center for Romanian New Yorkers, was substantially Romanian-Armenian, and Baruir's, famous for its coffee, was founded by Baruir Nercessian, a genocide survivor who came to Queens via Romania. Later, many second- and third-generation Armenians in New York, like Greek communities, moved to eastern Queens neighborhoods such as Bayside and Douglaston-Little Neck.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Hindi
  • Korean
  • Mandarin
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