Neighborhood

Upper East Side

Manhattan
In the Census-defined PUMA including the Upper East Side, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) French and Cantonese 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:

American Sign Language

American Sign Language
A significant portion of New York City's estimated Deaf population of over 200,000 use American Sign Language, as well as a number of CODAs (children of Deaf adults). Worldwide there exist up to several hundred other sign languages, often little documented and highly endangered, and at least some are likely used in New York, particularly by those who may have attended Deaf school in other countries — though it's likely they shift to ASL or at least codeswitch with ASL once in the city. While ASL signers live throughout the city, there are key hubs for the language, including the few remaining Deaf Clubs, important social clubs; religious institutions like St. Elizabeth's Deaf Church in Manhattan; and Queens' Lexington School for the Deaf, memorably described in Leah Hager Cohen's book Train Go Sorry.

British English

British English
British English is a broad cover term referring to the highly diverse English varieties of the United Kingdom, which vary widely by location and class, though prestigious "Received Pronunciation" (also sometimes known as "the Queen's English") may be best known to Americans. In early colonial New York, forms of British English would have been dominant across much of the city, and large-scale immigration from the British Isles continued well into the 19th century. Close ties between New York and the United Kingdom have continued ever since. According to 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, 13,444 New Yorkers were born in the United Kingdom, most of whom live in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Higher education and work opportunities are the most cited reasons for Brits' moving to NYC. While one of the highest residential concentrations is in this zone of the Upper East Side, British New Yorkers gather at a wide range of institutions from the British Consulate to the British International School to the Myers of Keswick grocery in the West Village—not to mention gathering places for Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish New Yorkers who may also identify as British and speaker British English varieties.

Church Slavonic

црькъвьнословѣньскъ
Within a few blocks of each other on the Upper East Side, two historic Russian Orthodox Churches serve a community which includes descendants of White Russian exiles from the 1917 Russian Revolution. Both use the liturgical language of Church Slavonic, but the one on 93rd represents (and is the center of) the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) while the other, on 97th, is part of the Russia-centered church.

Occitan

Lenga D'Òc
Some of the Waldensians who came as part of the mass migration from Italy to New York beginning in the late 19th century were likely speakers of an Occitan variety from what is now the Italian province of Piedmont, though some likely also knew Piedmontese and other languages. One of the only Waldensian churches in the U.S. was located here in a former synagogue on 82nd Street, until the building was sold to a different synagogue in 1993. According to linguist Penelope Eckert, many of the city's French restaurants were once staffed by immigrants from Ercé in the Gascon-speaking Pyrenees (Gascon is often considered a variety of Occitan).

Puerto Rican Sign Language

Puerto Rican Sign Language
In his book Signing in Puerto Rican, author Andrés Torres provides an invaluable account of the Puerto Rican Deaf world in New York City in which he grew up, which he estimates as having included some 2,000 people in the mid-20th century. Torres reports the use at different points of home signs that evolved in his own family as well as Sign English and some ASL, of which Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL) is sometimes considered a close variant. Deaf schools, migration, social change, and other factors all contributed to a fluid multilingual situation. The extent to which a distinctive PRSL has been and is being used in New York is not certain, but the Puerto Rican Society of Catholic Deaf has been a focal point for the community for over 60 years.

Quebec French

Québécois
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.

Rashti

رشتی
As of 2021, at least one individual living on the Upper East Side—with family who also speak scattered in Westchester and New Jersey— was reported as speaking Rashti, a language of Iran's Gilan Province sometimes considered a variety of Gilaki.

Russian

Русский
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral on 97th Street was completed in 1902, with funding from the then Russian Empire, to accomodate a growing number of Russian Orthodox New Yorkers in Manhattan, and it soon became a cathedral and the seat of the North American Diocese. After the Russian Revolution, a Russian exile community, including some members of the old nobility, formed in the area and established the nearby, very much separate Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign. Exiles also established a community in Sea Cliff on Long Island, building Russian Orthodox Churches there, while others scattered across the region—at least some maintaining the Russian language for several generations in their families.
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Upper East Side

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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