成人快手

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

In this second episode, Ross meets Husniya, who comes from a remote high-mountain region of Tajikistan. Her language is Wakhi, and at times she鈥檚 been the only person in New York who can speak it. She keeps her language alive by talking to her mother on the phone. She takes Ross back to her home in the Pamir region of Tajikistan, where they discover that the language is part of a new drive towards Pamiri independence. We follow Husniya鈥檚 story from her first arrival in New York through her struggle to make a living, gain an education, find a career, and, finally, to become a US citizen.

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 one thing to travel far, and something else to live with a permanent sense of disclocation. Husniya constantly carries a language and culture that no one around her can remotely understand.鈥�

We hear Ross Perlin鈥檚 recordings of Husniya speaking Wakhi, and her friend Ganjina, a waitress, singing a beautiful lullaby which has become a hit back in Tajikistan.

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Reader: Adam Sims
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for 成人快手 Radio 4