Xârâcùù
Xârâcùù, or Kanala, is an Oceanic language spoken in New Caledonia. It has about 5,000 speakers. Xârâcùù is most commonly spoken in the south Central area of New Caledonia in and around the city of Canala and the municipalities of Canala, Thio, and Boulouparis. Xarâcùù has a strict SVO sentence structure with few exceptions. Efforts to determine how the language evolved to the present has been met with difficulty due to Xârâcùù's lack of reflexive markers in established Proto-Oceanic forms. Xârâcùù has been taught since 1980 at the primary level in the popular Kanak school (EPK or Ecole Populaire Kanak) Canala, only establishment of its kind still existing in 2013, the students can then join public education. The language is also offered at the private Catholic college Francis Rouge-Thio and public college Canala.
Kanak people
The word 'Kanak' is derived from "kanaka maoli", a Hawaiian phrase meaning 'ordinary person' which was at one time applied indiscriminately by European explorers, traders and missionaries in Oceania to any non-European Pacific islander. Prior to European contact, there were no unified states in New Caledonia, and no single self-appellation used to refer to its inhabitants. Other words have been coined from "Kanak" in the past few generations: "Kanaky" is an ethno-political name for the island or the entire territory. "Kanéka" is a musical genre associated with the Kanak, stylistically a form of reggae with added flutes, percussion and harmonies. "Kaneka" often has political lyrics and is sung in Drehu, Paici or other Melanesian languages, or in French. The word "kanak" is grammatically invariable. The German racial epithet "Kanake" — which is now applied to all non-whites, even southern Europeans in some cases, and especially to Turkish immigrants — also derives from the same source, and was originally applied to people from German colonial possessions in Oceania.