Documenting Caac, an endangered language spoken in the north of New Caledonia

Aurélie Cauchard, University of Manchester

Project Details:

Individual Graduate Studentship. Duration: 2010-2013. £54,055

Project Summary:

The project will document Caac (ISO 639-3 msq), a Southern Oceanic language spoken by the Mwelebeng people (1050 speakers in 2003) living in the region of Hoot ma Waap, northern New Caledonia (21 30 S, 165 30 E). A corpus of audio and video data will be transcribed, annotated and translated from the basis of a doctoral thesis focusing on spatial expression in Caac. The project also proposes to revise a dictionary compiled by Hollyman & Mwêau (1967) and produce pedagogical material in line with recent national and regional policies.