{"id":60118,"date":"2011-10-28T09:23:06","date_gmt":"2011-10-28T07:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?p=60118"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:16:13","slug":"surviving-in-the-mountain-with-marcel-ate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2011\/10\/surviving-in-the-mountain-with-marcel-ate\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving in the mountain, with Marcel At\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

We proceed on our exploration of the Kanak X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 <\/strong>language and culture, in New Caledonia<\/strong>. In the following video, Marcel At\u00e9<\/strong> recounts life as it used to be, a life of hard work based on the harvest of coffee, citrus fruit, and taro, products that needed to be carried across the mountains on foot. Then came the pesticides, and what\u2019s more, the fire ant, a strongly urticating kind of ant that made harvest by hand impossible. Consequence of such curses, livelihood grew scarce…<\/p>\n

See all videos in X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9<\/a><\/p>\n

Read description sheet on X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nLinguist<\/span>: Claire Moyse-Faurie (LACITO\/CNRS)
\nImage & sound<\/span>: Jos\u00e9 Reynes, assisted by Karl Jor\u00e9di\u00e9
\nTranslation<\/span>: Annick Kasovimoin (Acad\u00e9mie des Langues Kanak – ALK)
\nEditing<\/span>: Caroline Laurent<\/p>\n

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X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9<\/a> is one of the 28 Kanak languages<\/a>, a group belonging to the Austronesian language family. The Austronesian language family stands among the largest language families in the world, with its 1,000 to 1,200 languages shared over a vast area including a large part of Oceania, the Pacific, and South-East Asia.<\/em><\/p>\n

X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 is one of the languages spoken in the X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 area, alongside X\u00e2r\u00e2gur\u00e8<\/a>, Ham\u00e9a, and T\u00eer\u00ee. It is the most widely spoken of these four languages, with 5,729 speakers over 14 years old accounted for in the 2009 census. One third of them live essentially around Noum\u00e9a, while the other two thirds have remained in their traditional area, on the eastern coast of Grande Terre, and mainly in the Canala and Thio municipalities.<\/em><\/p>\n

X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 is also the fourth most widely spoken Kanak language in New Caledonia, following Drehu, Nengone, and Paic\u00ee \u2013 it is also one of the best maintained: spoken in every municipality of the X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 language area, it reaches over 90% of the population in Canala.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like every other Kanak languages, X\u00e2r\u00e2c\u00f9\u00f9 is part of France\u2019s 75 languages, and recognized in New Caledonia as a language of education and culture since the 1998 Noum\u00e9a Accord. It is part of the programs at the Canala and Thio junior high schools, although the language still hasn\u2019t been approved as a relevant option for Baccalaur\u00e9at, the French secondary school certificate<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"logo<\/a> Visit the Acad\u00e9mie des Langues Kanak website<\/a> (in French).<\/em><\/p>\n