Neighborhood

Fordham

Bronx
In the Census-defined PUMA including Bedford Park, Fordham North & Norwood, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) Bengali, French, Albanian, and "Niger-Congo languages" 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:

Dzongkha

རྫོང་ཁ་
One community member estimates that as many as 1,000 people from Bhutan are now in the city, though it is unclear whether or not this includes the Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people who have fled Bhutan as refugees and may not be Dzongkha speakers. Besides Dzongkha, the national language, the most widely spoken language among non-Lhotsampa Bhutanese is Sharchop, but there are also a small number of speakers of Bumthang, Kurtöp, Kheng, Chocha-ngacha, and probably other languages of Bhutan. The largest concentration is in Sunnyside as well as Astoria and Elmhurst, near other Himalayans, but a small percentage are in Brooklyn and scattered individuals in the Bronx and Westchester and likely elsewhere.

Ewe

Èʋegbe
A number of Ewe speakers in New York come from the southern part of Togo, while others come from Ghana.

Fante

Mfantse
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.

Lao

ພາສາລາວ
The Southeast Asian refugee community that formed in the Bronx following the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, today represented in part by the organization Mekong NYC, is substantially Vietnamese- and Khmer-speaking, but there have also reportedly been individuals who speak Lao (some of whom are also in the Thai area of Elmhurst) as well as Hmong and Mien, the two largest non-national languages spoken by Southeast Asian Americans, which are historically related but also highly internally diverse. Following the Vietnam War, many more speakers of these languages went as refugees to California, Minnesota, and elsewhere. One Hmong speaker reports that several dozen White and Green Hmong, many of whom came via the midwest, are now scattered around New York.

Lukumí

Lukumí
Lukumí is the liturgical language of Santería, a religion formed by enslaved Yoruba people brought to the New World. With roots in Yoruba religion, Christianity, and Indigenous American traditions, Santería has been practiced since the 16th century and persists among Afro-Cuban and other communities of New York City. The Lukumí language consists of a fixed set of Yoruba words and phrases (generally pronounced with Spanish intonation), many of which are now specific to Santería practices and may not be understood by modern-day practitioners. With Santería a significant force among the city's Afro-Caribbean and Latino communities, stores like Fordham's Original Products Botanica and Bushwick's Botanica Orisha Lucumi play a vital role by selling religious products like candles, oils, and herbs to both practitioners and laypeople.

Mien

Iu Mienh
The Southeast Asian refugee community that formed in the Bronx following the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, today represented in part by the organization Mekong NYC, is substantially Vietnamese- and Khmer-speaking, but there have also reportedly been individuals who speak Lao (some of whom are also in the Thai area of Elmhurst) as well as Hmong and Mien, the two largest non-national languages spoken by Southeast Asian Americans, which are historically related but also highly internally diverse. Following the Vietnam War, many more speakers of these languages went as refugees to California, Minnesota, and elsewhere. One Hmong speaker reports that several dozen White and Green Hmong, many of whom came via the midwest, are now scattered around New York.

Soninke

Sooninkan
Soninke is one of the most widely spoken languages among West African New Yorkers, with a particularly strong presence in the Bronx and upper Manhattan. Gambian institutions like the Gambia Islamic Society and some Malian organizations are likely to have a Soninke presence. Department of Education data shows that hundreds of children from Soninke-speaking families are entering the school system every year.

Twi

Twi
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.

Zarma

Zarmaciine
Not much information is known, but there appear to be communities speaking different Songhay varieties from both Mali (e.g. Koyraboro Senni) and Niger (Zarma) in the Bronx and in Harlem.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Akan
  • Ashanti
  • Ghanaian English
  • Khmer
  • Mexican Spanish
  • Twi
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Fordham

Bronx

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