Abstract
The 1996 census in New Caledonia reveals that there are more than 53 000 speakers of the 28 Kanak languages spoken there. Of these 28 languages, only 6 are taught at school today, although the Noumea Accord (1998) officially states that Kanak languages are teaching and culture languages, together with French. This paper discusses the complex institutionalization of vernacular languages in formal education, after decades of repression in the name of assimilation, and the French republican egalitarism (and Jacobinism). On the basis of field data, it explores how even these days the recognition of Kanak languages has to overcome amultitude of obstacles. It addresses the subtle shift from the conditions under the former colonial domination to the new requirements of the postcolonial «common destiny».
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