Languages of the French territory
In
New Caledonia
, a
sui generis
collectivity
of
France
,
French
is the official and predominant language. The collectivity is also home to about thirty
New Caledonian languages
, which form a branch of the
Southern Oceanic languages
. They are spoken mainly by the indigenous
Kanaks
of the islands.
At the beginning of French rule
[
edit
]
At the outset of colonisation, Kanaks primarily spoke their native languages, and, in case of need, used
Bislama
, an Anglo-Melanesian language whose lexical basis is essentially
English
. This language allowed them to communicate with shopkeepers or with other
Melanesian
populations. Those native languages were favoured by some Protestant missionaries to evangelize the population, though Catholic missionaries preferred the usage of
French
.
In 1853, a decree imposed the teaching of French in every school of the colony, and ten years later, only the teaching of French was allowed.
[1]
Present day
[
edit
]
New Caledonia
's population is constituted of numerous ethnic groups, but most residents are of
Kanak
,
European
or mixed origin. Nowadays, there are about 30
Melanesian languages
spoken in the territory, as well as languages peculiar to the immigrant populations (
Javanese
,
Vietnamese
,
Indonesian
,
Chinese
, Filipino and others). Those populations primarily immigrated to
New Caledonia
during the nickel rush. The native languages of
New Caledonia
are part of the
Austronesian family
. This family extends from the island of
Madagascar
,
Taiwan
,
Southeast Asia
and covers almost all of the
Pacific
.
French
[
edit
]
New Caledonians of European descent generally speak French natively, and it is spoken by nearly all the remainder of the population as either a first or second language. New Caledonian French is characterized by some phonetic particularities and specific grammatical constructions derived from native languages.
[1]
At the 2009 census, 97.3% of New Caledonians aged 15 or older reported that they could speak, read and write French, whereas only 1.1% reported that they had no knowledge of French.
[2]
No questions regarding the knowledge of French were asked in the 2014 and 2019 censuses, on account of the population's nearly universal understanding of it.
In the early colonial era, there had been a
French pidgin
used in New Caledonia as a contact language, especially along the east coast, alongside
Bislama
, and today there is a local French creole known as
Tayo
that may descend from it.
Indigenous languages
[
edit
]
The forty native languages of New Caledonia form two branches of the
Southern Oceanic languages
, part of the
Austronesian
family; West Uvean is
Polynesian
. Their speakers are known as
Kanaks
. The most important are:
Drehu
,
Nengone
,
Paici
,
Ajie
, and
Xaracuu
. The other languages are spoken by a few hundred to couple thousand people and are endangered. Many Kanaks do not know their native languages very well because of the wide usage of
French
.
At the 2019 census, 44.0% of people whose age was 15 or older reported that they had some form of knowledge of at least one Kanak language, whereas 56.0% reported that they had no knowledge of any of the Kanak languages.
[3]
[2]
Foreign languages
[
edit
]
Tourism
constitutes an important part of the collectivity's economy, with visitors principally from
Australia
and
New Zealand
.
English
accordingly is understood by some New Caledonians; however, it is only widely spoken inside
Noumea
and by those in the tourism industry.
The most commonly taught foreign languages are English and
Japanese
.
[4]
Legal status
[
edit
]
New Caledonia
being a part of
French Republic
, its official language is
French
, following the constitutional law 92-554 (June 1992). This law is applicable to every field (justice, tribunals, administration, schools...). At the level of legislation and justice, on some occasions individuals may have recourse to a
Melanesian
language (in spoken conversation, for example).
A series of decrees and clauses allow the usage of Melanesian languages in education in some cases. Notably, the "Loi d’orientation d’Outre-Mer" (law 2000-1207, December 2000) stipulates that respect must be shown to indigenous languages, owing to their importance to New Caledonian culture.
[1]
[5]
Education
[
edit
]
Secondary school
is under State authority (as opposed to nursery and primary school, which are under Provincial authority), therefore, the language in application is
French
. Some schools give optional native languages lessons, but it is still very rare. Nevertheless, four languages are proposed at the baccalaureate:
Ajie
, Drehu, Nengone and Paici.
There has been controversy about the educational system, as it has been argued that its programs are not adapted to the needs of the local population. As a
French overseas collectivity
New Caledonia
is almost exclusively under the administrative control of
France
at the educative level and the textbooks are tailored to European students. Moreover,
French
is only a second language for significant minority of New Caledonians. This situation has been described as a major cause for the high rate of
illiteracy
and academic failure by New Caledonian students, whose success rate at the
baccalaureate
is very low.
[6]
Some have advocated to increase the importance of native languages as a teaching medium in school, while reducing the status of
French
to that of a second language.
[7]
Critics have claimed that this proposal denies reality as French is the predominant native language among New Caledonian students.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Jacques Leclerc, L’amenagement Linguistique dans le Monde
http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/pacifique/ncal.htm
- ^
a
b
"Principales caracteristiques des individus de 15 ans et plus, par province de residence et sexe"
. Noumea:
Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies
(ISEE-NC). Archived from
the original
(XLS)
on 30 October 2012
. Retrieved
2013-02-28
.
- ^
"Population, menages et logement par province, en 2019 ? P20 Population de 15 ans et plus, selon le genre, la connaissance d'une langue kanak et la province de residence par groupe d'age decennal"
(in French).
Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies
(ISEE-NC)
. Retrieved
2023-03-06
.
- ^
"History, language and culture in New Caledonia"
.
- ^
Isabelle Bril
, En Pays Kanaks
- ^
Isabelle Bril
, En Pays Kanak, 282-8
- ^
Isabelle Bril
, En Pays Kanak, 286-7
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