The Teenager Who Accidentally Documented an Endangered Language: Judeo-Tuyserkani with Ashton Kahen

Sarah Bunin Benor interviews Ashton Kahen, a Baruch College student and researcher dedicated to Iranian Jewish history and endangered languages. Ashton details his family’s diverse roots across Iran, including Tuyserkan, Damavand, and Kashan. Driven by a desire to preserve his heritage, he discusses his work documenting his ancestral language, Judeo-Tuyserkani, which has led to a partnership with the Jewish Language Project. Ashton highlights common Persian Jewish heritage words like kenisa and Ben Ebri, while also exploring the Farsi-English language mixing prevalent in his Great Neck community.

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Ashton David (Davood) Kahen is an independent researcher focused on Iranian Jewish history, cultural preservation, the origins of Israelite religion, and endangered Jewish dialects. During his junior and senior years of high school, he created the first documentation of his ancestral language, Israelo-Tuyserkani/Judeo-Tuyserkani, now developed into an online dictionary in partnership with the Jewish Language Project and Living Dictionaries. He later collaborated with Dr. Habib Borjian on research into “Judeo-Ecbatanic languages.” Founder of the Iranian Culture Club at Great Neck North High School, Ashton currently studies at Baruch College while advancing projects on cultural preservation and Iranian Jewish diaspora history.