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 Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...

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 The Kanak ( French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. According to the 2019 census, the Kanak make up 41.2% of New Caledoni ...

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 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 vulner ...

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 , image_name = University_of_New_Caledonia.png , image_size = 150px , caption = , latin_name = , motto = , closed = , established = 1987 (UFP) - 1999 (UNC) , type = Public ...

that would propose a common writing standard. All the collected data is analyzed by

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...

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.

Déwé Gorodey Déwé Gorodey (1 June 1949 – 14 August 2022) was a New Caledonian teacher, writer, feminist and politician. She was active in agitating for independence from France in the 1970s. She published poetry, short stories and novels. From 1999, she ...

was appointed chair of the academy in 2007. Its current director is Weniko Ihage.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Languages of New Caledonia Education in New Caledonia Educational organizations based in New Caledonia Educational institutions established in 2007 Language regulators 2007 establishments in New Caledonia