Kanak Language Academy
Encyclopedia
The Kanak Language Academy (Académie des Langues Kanak; KLA) is a local, public educational establishment in New Caledonia
. Founded in 2007, with roots reaching to the Nouméa Accords of 1998, the legislative assembly endorsed the setting up of the French territory’s first indigenous Kanak languages institute. Its mission is "to establish rules of usage and to help promote and develop all Kanak
languages and dialects". The KLA is expected to standardise, protect, and develop the about forty Kanak languages and dialects, as well as standardize the written form for Kanak languages.
The majority of New Caledonian languages
do not have a written form. Those that do, have a rudimentary one. As it was extremely difficult to define the correct spelling of words, a program was developed by the KLA and the University of New Caledonia
that would propose a common writing standard.
All the collected data is analyzed by linguist
s that develop a form of writing which is accepted by the speakers.
KLA publishes dictionaries, folk tales, and glossaries. In 2009, it had three radio broadcasts daily from Monday to Friday. In 2008, it organized a festival, Space Orality.
There are eight project leaders, each working in one of the areas of the country who are supported by academicians. They are selected from New Caledonia's main cultural and traditional clans and confederations. Dewe Gorodey was appointed chair of the academy in 2007. Its current director is Weniko Ihage.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. Founded in 2007, with roots reaching to the Nouméa Accords of 1998, the legislative assembly endorsed the setting up of the French territory’s first indigenous Kanak languages institute. Its mission is "to establish rules of usage and to help promote and develop all Kanak
Kanak people
Kanak are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the southwest Pacific. They constitute 44.1% of the total population of New Caledonia. Though Melanesian settlement is recorded on Grande Terre's Presqu'île de Foué peninsula as far back as the...
languages and dialects". The KLA is expected to standardise, protect, and develop the about forty Kanak languages and dialects, as well as standardize the written form for Kanak languages.
The majority of New Caledonian languages
New Caledonian languages
The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks.-Components:*Haekic*Northern New Caledonian**Central Northern: Cemuhî, Paicî...
do not have a written form. Those that do, have a rudimentary one. As it was extremely difficult to define the correct spelling of words, a program was developed by the KLA and the University of New Caledonia
University of New Caledonia
The University of New Caledonia is a French university, in the Academy of New Caledonia.The university goes back to 1987 when the Université Française du Pacifique was created, with two centres, one in French Polynesia and the other in New Caledonia...
that would propose a common writing standard.
All the collected data is analyzed by linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
s that develop a form of writing which is accepted by the speakers.
KLA publishes dictionaries, folk tales, and glossaries. In 2009, it had three radio broadcasts daily from Monday to Friday. In 2008, it organized a festival, Space Orality.
There are eight project leaders, each working in one of the areas of the country who are supported by academicians. They are selected from New Caledonia's main cultural and traditional clans and confederations. Dewe Gorodey was appointed chair of the academy in 2007. Its current director is Weniko Ihage.