The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. One language is extinct, one is critically endangered, 4 are severely endangered, 5 are endangered, and another 5 are vulnerable to extinction.

Typology

The Cèmuhî, Paicî, Drubea, Numèè, and Kwenyii languages are tonal.Rivierre, Jean-Claude. 1993
Tonogenesis in New Caledonia
In Edmondson and Gregerson: ''Tonality in Austronesian languages'', 155–173. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication 24. Other than phonemically contrastive tone, typological features in New Caledonian languages that are typically unusual for Oceanic languages include

nasalized vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced with ...

s, very large vowel inventories, retroflex consonants, and voiceless nasals.

Languages

*Loyalty Islands ** Drehu ( Lifou Island) **

Iaai Iaai (Iaai pronunciation: ) is a language of Ouvéa Island (New Caledonia). It shares the island of Ouvéa with Fagauvea, a Polynesian outlier language. Iaai is the sixth-most-spoken language of New Caledonia, with 4078 speakers as of 2009. It ...

(

Ouvéa Island Ouvéa Island or Uvea Island is one of the Loyalty Islands, in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island is part of the commune (municipality) of Ouvéa, in the Loyalty Islands Province o ...

) ** 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 The Zire Series was Palm, Inc's "consumer-grade" brand of Personal Digital Assistant. Background/Overview The lower-end models emphasized value — Palm's original Zire model was the first PDA under $100 from a major manufacturer — and the high ...

† ****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 Haveke (also known as Aveke or 'Aveke) is a Kanak language of New Caledonia, in the commune of Voh. Bwatoo dialect is distinct. The language is considered endangered with 300 native speakers worldwide reported in 1982. That number gets lower du ...

***** Hmwaveke ***** Waamwang ***** Fwâi *****

Jawe Jawe (Diahoue, Njawe, Oubatch, Ubach) is one of the Kanak languages spoken in the northern province of the largest island of New Caledonia named Grande Terre. Jawe speakers are located along the northeast coast of the island, north of Hienghèn ...

(vulnerable) ***** Nemi (vulnerable) ***** Pije (severely endangered) ***Extreme Northern **** Caac (vulnerable) ****

Kumak Komoq ( fa, كمق, also Romanized as Kamaq; also known as Kūmak) is a village in Sanjabad-e Jonubi Rural District, Firuz District, Kowsar County, Ardabil Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

(vulnerable) **** Nyâlayu **** Yuanga The languages of the northern

Voh Voh is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It has become famous for the aerial photography of what is known as ''The Heart of Voh'', a large formation of vegetation that resem ...

– Koné area (*) are often discussed as a unit.

List of New Caledonian languages

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Caledonian Languages Southern Oceanic languages