New Caledonian languages

Subgroup of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family

The thirty New Caledonian languages also known as Kanak languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. One language is extinct, one is critically endangered, four are severely endangered, five are endangered, and another five are vulnerable to extinction.

Typology

The Cèmuhî, Paicî, Drubea, Numèè, and Kwenyii languages are tonal.^[1]

Other than phonemically contrastive tone, typological features in New Caledonian languages that are typically unusual for Oceanic languages include nasalized vowels, very large vowel inventories, retroflex consonants, and voiceless nasals.^[2]

Languages

Populations of speakers of the native languages of New Caledonia. Grey, green, and red are the languages of the New Caledonian branch.

• Loyalty Islands
  • Drehu (Lifou Island)
  • Iaai (Ouvéa Island)
  • Nengone (Maré Island)
• Mainland New Caledonian
  • Southern New Caledonian
    • Extreme Southern
      • Ndrumbea (vulnerable)
      • Numèè
    • Mid-Southern
      • Xârâcùù–Xârâgurè:
        • Xârâcùù
        • Xârâgurè (endangered)
      • Zire–Tîrî:
        • Tîrî (endangered)
        • Zire †
      • Wailic
        • Ajië
        • Arhâ (severely endangered)
        • Arhö (critically endangered)
        • Neku (severely endangered)
        • Orowe (endangered)
  • Northern New Caledonian
    • Haeke*
    • Haveke*
    • Vamale*
    • Central Northern
      • Cèmuhî
      • Paicî
    • North Northern
      • Pwaamei (endangered)
      • Pwapwa (severely endangered)
        • Bwatoo
        • Hmwaveke
        • Waamwang
        • Fwâi
        • Jawe (vulnerable)
        • Nemi (vulnerable)
        • Pije (severely endangered)
    • Extreme Northern
      • Caac (vulnerable)
      • Kumak (vulnerable)
      • Nyâlayu
      • Yuanga

The languages of the northern Voh–Koné area (*) are often discussed as a unit.

List of New Caledonian languages

References

1. Rivierre, Jean-Claude. 1993. Tonogenesis in New Caledonia. In Edmondson and Gregerson: Tonality in Austronesian languages, 155–173. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication 24.
2. Blust, Robert (2013). The Austronesian languages. Vol. A-PL 008 (revised ed.). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. hdl:1885/10191. ISBN 9781922185075.