Languages in the city of Nouméa: urban sociolinguistics and interdisciplinarity For research with a social purpose in context postcolonial

Abstract

This collective tribute to Thierry Bulot presents key findings of a sociolinguistic research programme entitled « Les langues dans la ville : pratiques plurilingues et artisitiques à Nouméa » (Languages in the city : plurilingual and artistic practices in Noumea) a DGLFLF- and CNEP-funded programme. This article shows that Nouméa, a city created for and by colonization, is gradually turns into an « Oceanian » city. A synthesis of the sociolinguistic and glottopolitical analyses highlights that in a urban environment, local languages (kanak, oceanian and other languages of the Asia Pacific region find it very difficult to resist the hegemony of french. We
opened up research and investigation and extended it to ethnomusicology, in particular. it enables us to emphasize the role of artistic practices in a still sensitive political context : when the place value on plurilingalism and oceanic identities that resist the dominant norms, they are conducive to « living together ».