Numèè (Naa Numee, Naa-Wee), or Kwényi (Kwenyii), is a New Caledonian language, the one spoken at the southern tip of the island, as well as on the Isle of Pines offshore. Despite its name, it is probably not the language that gave its name to the capital of New Caledonia, Nouméa; that seems to have been its close relative Ndrumbea, which used to be spoken there.
| Numèè | |
|---|---|
| Kwényi | |
| Naa Numee | |
| Native to | New Caledonia |
| Region | Nouméa, Isle of Pines |
Native speakers | 2,200 (2009 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kdk |
| Glottolog | nume1242 |
| ELP | Numèè |
 Numèè is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Phonology
Like its close relative Ndrumbea, Numèè is a tonal language, with three contrasting tones, high, mid, and low.
Vowels
Numèè, or rather its dialect Kwênyii, has a total of 35 vowels, all monophthongs: 17 short, and 18 long.[2]
| Front | Front rounded | Back | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| oral | nasal | oral | nasal | oral | nasal | |||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i | iː | ĩ | ĩː | y | yː | ỹ | ỹː | u | uː | ũ | ũː |
| Near-close | ɪː | ʊ | ʊː | |||||||||
| Close-mid | e | eː | ẽ | ẽː | ø | øː | ø̃ | ø̃ː | o | oː | õ | õː |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɛ̃ː | ə | əː | ||||||||
| Open | a | aː | ã | ãː | ||||||||
Consonants
Kwênyii has 26 consonants.[3]
Notes
References
- Rivierre, Jean-Claude [in French] (1973). Phonologie comparée des dialectes de l'extrême-sud de la Nouvelle Calédonie. Paris: Société d'études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France.