ICMM - International Council on Mining & Metals

CASE STUDY

Vale Inco contributes to the preservation of traditional languages in New Caledonia

Vale Inco has implemented a project to recover the native languages in the southern region of New Caledonia, known as Grand Sud. The project’s main objective is to preserve and promote the Kanak languages of the South, which are composed of Nââ Numèè, Nââ Drubéa and Nââ Kwenyii.

This is achieved through going to elders - who are often the last repository of spoken language - proposing a common writing standard, and broadening teaching to include not just the classroom, but also families.

Background

A socio-economic impact study carried out in 2007 by Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie (previously Goro Nickel) in New Caledonia had revealed that the neighboring communities were concerned about the potential impact that the operations could have on their livelihood. One of the main preoccupations was related to the diminishing role of their languages and, consequently, of the expression of their traditional cultural values.

Learning the language should be a constant at school and at home. The whole family should participate so that the learning process will be more effective

During the impact study carried out by Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie, the community, particularly the elder members, reported that the Kanak languages are increasingly less current among young people. After this study, the company concluded that local languages were in fact decreasing in their verbal use. Moreover, the company realized that its operations could have an impact on this trend, capable of either stemming this decline or, if handled improperly, increasing it.

With this in mind, Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie began to consider courses of action that would preserve the local language and the expression of local culture. Thus, a complex program of preservation and promotion of the Nââ Numèè, Nââ Drubéa and Nââ Kwenyii languages was put in place.

The language preservation and promotion project

The Kanak Language and Culture Recovery Project was conceived in 2007 by Maria Angert Poirson, Community Projects Manager. She realized the need to create teaching tools that would not restrict learning to the classroom, but would include the children’s families. "Learning the language should be a constant at school and at home. The whole family should participate so that the learning process will be more effective. Generally, the grandparents are the only ones to speak the Nââ Numèè and Nââ Drubéa in Yaté”, Maria pointed out.

However, there are some major complicating issues: the lack of works of reference on the languages and the disappearance of some words. Given the scarcity of works, it was necessary to go to the field to collect information and vocabulary from the elders of the communities. During this phase, a linguist and an ethnologist were designated to help with the work. This was a successful process, but it became apparent that words had disappeared, and some objects remained nameless.

It was extremely difficult to define the correct spelling of the words. A program was thus developed by the Academy of Kanak Languages and University of New Caledonia in order to propose a common writing standard. It is important to note that the community is always consulted about the orthography of words to ensure that the writing can be easily used.

This process of writing standardization has allowed the Goro Nickel Project and its partners to create tools with themes that are current in the community’s life and at the same time bringing about awareness in regard to the environment. The chosen topics for the tools were: the maritime fauna, fauna with wings (birds and bats), plants and foods.

Other means are being implemented to promote the use of the language among children. They include games (lotto, dominoes, memory, and others) and the publication of short stories.

An interesting cultural aspect is that the Kanak people associate natural phenomena with agricultural practice. For example, when a whale hits the water with its tale it means that it is time to plant yams. To preserve this kind of binomial, an almanac is being prepared.

Some of the ideas are still being finalized, but positive results have already started to appear. In 2008, Fabrice Wacalie became the first student from the island to write a thesis in Nââ Numèè, which is considered a great advance for the project. Besides that, the project is completely supported by the government, civil society and especially by the Kanaks.