Ross Perlin

Ross Perlin is an American linguist and co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance. He has made significant contributions to the Languages of New York City map.

Early life and education
Perlin grew up in New York City.

Perlin has a BA from Stanford University, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, an MA from the University of London (SOAS), and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Bern.

Career
As part of his linguistics PhD, Perlin studied and published a dictionary for Trung, a language spoken in the eastern Himalayas. Perlin researched the languages of the Pamir region of Tajikistan for National Geographic.

Perlin contributed to the English translation of Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre (2020) by Liao Yiwu and Chen Guangcheng's The Barefoot Lawyer (2015).

In 2024, Perlin published Language City, an exploration of the least-known languages in New York City. In this, he places a focus on trauma as the source for linguistic diversity in New York, especially that of immigrants fleeing persecution, violence, and famine. An excerpt from the book was published in The Atlantic, highlighting the likelihood that many endangered languages will die out in the near future. He wrote, "Threats to immigration and immigrant lives, language loss in the homelands, and the gentrification of cities appear to be accelerating the cycle.

Some journalists have speculated that a New York Times article highlighting Perlin's work may have inspired an anti-immigrant comment by former President Donald Trump.

Books

 * Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy (Verso Books, 2012)
 * Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024)