Mapping Linguistic Diversity in a Globalizing World through Open Source Digital Tools
The United Nations has proclaimed 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages, but linguistic diversity remains under extreme stress. Today, communities who speak increasingly endangered languages are profoundly mobile, often out of necessity. Because languages move with people, language mapping is difficult, whether in print or digital form. Techniques that locate languages as dots on a map are flawed (where would you locate the dot for English?), while polygons don’t accurately represent plurilingual realities. A failure to understand linguistic diversity can manifest in unsuccessful public service delivery and civic engagement, particularly in marginalized communities. Embracing this challenge, the New York-based Endangered Language Alliance is producing popular printed maps of the world’s most linguistically diverse city. Municipal leadership in New York are using this knowledge to shape public policy. Our project will transform these maps into generalizable, interactive digital tools that support community-based language mapping anywhere in the world.
