Kanak cultures and languages
New Caledonia has twenty-eight recognised Kanak languages across eight customary areas. It is the one part of the Pacific where this assistant has a complete documentary basis: the Kanak languages dictionary, 19,655 entries in nine languages. On a Kanak word it quotes only what is in there, and says so when it is not.
Languages and peoples
The institutions consulted
- Académie des Langues Kanakalk.nc
- Sénat coutumier de Nouvelle-Calédoniesenat-coutumier.nc
- Centre culturel Tjibaoucentretjibaou.nc
- Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonieunc.nc
- CNRS-LACITOlacito.cnrs.fr
- Collection Pangloss (CNRS)pangloss.cnrs.fr
- Dictionnaire des langues Kanakdictionnaire.kanaky.xyz
Questions to start with
- How do you say "the sea" in Drehu and Nengone?
- What does the yam represent in Kanak culture?
- What is the role of the great house and its roof spire?
- What did the 1998 Nouméa Accord establish?
- What is kaneka music and where does it come from?
What the assistant will not do
It will not invent a word in a Pacific language, and it will not present one people’s practice as another’s. When it has no source, it says so. Every word in language it writes is checked after the answer, and the reader is shown any that appear nowhere.