Featured Story
New installation at LaGuardia Airport
ELA’s NYC language map served as the basis and inspiration for artist Mariam Ghani’s “The Worlds We Speak”, a prominent permanent installation at Delta’s new LaGuardia terminal.
Forging a Future for Languages
Founded in 2010, the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) is a non-profit dedicated to documenting Indigenous, minority, and endangered languages, supporting linguistic diversity in New York City and beyond.
Featured Language
Tu'un Savi (Mixtec)
Mixtec, spoken by over half a million Indigenous Mexicans mostly in Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero, is one of the most widely known Indigenous languages in NYC today. (Photo from The Migration Codex by Cinthya Santos-Briones)
ELA at a Glance
10 Projects
With ten current larger-scale projects and additional work on individual languages, ELA focuses on communities and individuals in the New York City area.
42 Languages
ELA has worked to different degrees on numerous projects with speakers of over a hundred languages spoken in New York City and beyond. More in-depth work continues on the several dozen featured here.
1 Mission
ELA's network is an extended family of linguists, language activists, community leaders, students, volunteers, and lovers of language in NYC and the world over.
Introducing ELA
Recent Updates
Special Year-End Offer
With #GivingTuesday next week and the holidays coming up, give the person you love who loves languages a unique gift—by supporting our year-end Facebook fundraiser! (You can also give with a credit card via Paypal or by mailing us a check.) Donate just $40 ($10 off) to get an all-color, full-scale (24” x 36”, standard-frame-size)…
Collections Volunteer Wanted
ELA is looking for a short-term, part-time volunteer to help catalog and organize its print and digital collections, with any needed training and supervision provided. This will take place in person at our 18th Street office in Manhattan, beginning as soon as possible, with flexible scheduling but some weekday availability preferred. No experience required, but…