Language

Gaeilge

Irish
  • Global speakers: 1,171,000
  • Glottocode: iris1253
  • ISO 639-3: gle
Northern EuropeIreland flagIrelandUnited Kingdom flagUnited KingdomCeltic
Census
Irish immigration to New York began early in the history of the city, accelerating dramatically during the mid-19th century during the Famine. During this period, a significant percentage of Irish New Yorkers came from Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas in western Ireland, meaning that tens of thousands likely would have spoken the language, though direct evidence is fragmentary until significant publishing and teaching efforts began a generation later in the 1870s. Analysis of the 1910 census by the Irish Speakers and the Empire City project found that Irish speakers still lived all over, but with strong concentrations on the West Side near what is today Chelsea. Many significant figures and events in modern Irish history have New York connections, from Eamon de Valera (born in Manhattan) to John Kilgallon (the "Rockaway Rebel" who joined the Easter Rising). Read more here.
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Sites

NYC neighborhoods or towns in the metro region where the language community has a significant site, marked by a point on the map:

Manhattan

Hell's Kitchen
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Queens

Long Island City
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Brooklyn

Red Hook
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Bronx

Woodlawn
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Additional neighborhoods (NYC only)

  • Sunnyside
  • Woodside
  • Riverdale
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An urban language map

Welcome to Languages of New York City, a free and interactive digital map of the world’s most linguistically diverse metropolitan area.

All data, unless otherwise specified, is from the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), based on information from communities, speakers, and other sources.

The map is a work in progress and a partial snapshot, focused on significant sites for Indigenous, minority, and endangered languages. Larger languages are represented selectively. To protect the privacy of speakers, some locations are slightly altered. Social media users, note that LANGUAGEMAP.NYC works best in a separate browser. We apologize that the map may not be fully accessible to all users, including the visually impaired.

This map was created by the Mapping Linguistic Diversity team, with core support from the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Endangered Language Alliance. Please send feedback!

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