Jawe language

The New Caledonian languages are most closely related to the languages of Vanuatu, which is also located in the Melanesian sub region of Oceania. Together these languages make up the Southern Oceanic languages which is a linkage to the Oceanic languages and classified under the Austronesian language family.[2] New Caledonian languages are also closely related to Polynesian languages like the Fijian languages, Maori language, Tahitian, Samoan, and Hawaiian.[7]

Oceanic linguists have categorized the New Caledonian languages into two primary groups: the group of languages spoken on the Loyalty Islands, referred to as the Loyalties languages, and the group of languages spoken on the largest island, Grande Terre, called the mainland languages. The mainland languages are further classified regionally between the languages spoken in the southern region and the languages spoken in the northern province.

Jawe is most closely related to the northern languages which are further sub-categorized and/or referenced as two different groups: first are the northernmost languages called the Far North or North Northern group; second is the group of languages that are located just south of the first group and called the North or other northern languages group. Jawe comes from the group of north or other northern languages and is most closely associated to the languages in the surrounding communities around the Hienghene region: Pije, Nemi and Fwai.[3]

The New Caledonian languages branched off from the other Oceanic languages after Melanesian people settled in New Caledonia around 3000 bc. The languages evolved under mostly isolated conditions until there was contact with Europeans in the late 18th century which created regular contact form the subsequent trading, migration and eventual colonization. Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in New Caledonia in the 1840s and began efforts at conversion; most notably for the north province was Marist mission was set up just north of Pouebo, in Balade.

The French took colonial possession of most of New Caledonia in 1853 and imposed forced labor, limitations on travel, and curfews which lead to Melanesian revolts that were a frequent occurrence until 1917. By 1860 the French had established their authority over the southern part of the mainland and implemented policies that significantly destabilized and altered the lives of Melanesians, including: the confiscation and dispossession of Melanesian lands; regrouping Melanesian tribes; the implementation of the 1887 system of administrative law named the indigénat (native regulations) that was based on the earlier colonial system of forced labor and restricted travel; the imposition of the 1899 Head Tax which made it mandatory for male Melanesians to seek employment from colonial settlers and the colonial government. By the beginning of the 20th century, large regions of land belonging to Melanesians had been confiscated with the inhabitants being forced onto reserves and both the head tax and the indigénat remained in force until 1946.

Migration to New Caledonia from France, New Zealand and Australia occurred regularly throughout the colonial period but was most significant in the post-colonial years surrounding the nickel boom of 1969–72 which brought an influx of white and Polynesian settlers and for the first time, the Melanesians were a minority in their country, although they are still the largest single ethnic group. Presently, education is free and compulsory for ages of 6 to 16 with French being the only language of instruction in government supported schools and syllabus that follows that of the French school system.[8]

Jawe, like other languages in the northern region of the mainland island, use a number of articles for indicating definiteness and the numerical scope of a noun.

• The singular definite specific article is nei
• The singular definite article is di or dii
• The singular indefinite article is ya
• In articles identifying numerical value the initial marker is the number which is separated by a slash from the article. There is no definite specific article for dual or multiple pluralization.
• The dual definite article is deu/li
• The dual indefinite article is deu/lixen
• The plural definite article is dee/li
• The plural indefinite article is deu/lixen or deu/yaxen.[11]
• Morphemes

[9][12]

The majority of information that is known about the northern New Caledonian languages is based on the initial work done by French linguists André-Georges Haudricourt and Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre who published the Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (Nouvelle-Calédonie): pije-fwâi-nemi-jawe in 1982. The more substantial part of the French language publication is a comparative dictionary of the languages of the Hienghene region containing approximately 4,000 entries, an index with glosses to French and Latin, and which is semantically organized into seven themes: Corps humain, Techniques, Individu-Société, Nature, Zoologie, Botanique, Termes grammaticaux. Also included in the publication is a historical study that shows the phonological relationship of the Hienghene region languages to Proto-Oceanic. The neighboring Caac language, which is classified as a Far North language, was of special interest to the linguists as a source for comparison for the languages being studied.

Some irregularities within the work have been noted by subsequent Oceanic linguists, most notably that the thematic organization is conceptually Western, although the detail still reflects aspects of Kanak life. Another irregularity is that the orthography used is not accompanied with an explanation of how it differs from International Phonetic Alphabet. There is also a lack of sources for which language borrowing from neighboring communities is attributed to. Language borrowing has become the excepted explanation and at least one way that it is known to happen is as a result of regular marriage exchanges with neighboring communities and the subsequent bilingualism that develops.

Linguists have noted a lack of interest in the study of the New Caledonian languages which is primarily attributed to a language barrier due to most Oceanic linguists being English speakers while a majority of the discourse concerning the languages of New Caledonia is in French.[7][13]

• Haudricourt, André-Georges; Ozanne-Rivierre, Françoise (1982). Dictionnaire thématique des langues de la région de Hienghène (Nouvelle-Calédonie) : pije, fwâi, nemi, jawe. Précédé d'une phonologie comparée des langues de Hienghène et du proto-océanien. Paris: Société d'Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France. p. 285. ISBN 978-2852971349.