Ndrumbea

Ndrumbea, also spelled Dubea or Dumbea and called Naa Dubea in the language itself, is a Kanak language of the Extreme Southern New Caledonian group, spoken around Païta near Nouméa. The names of Nouméa and of the neighbouring town of Dumbéa both derive from this language, whose speakers were gradually pushed out of the capital district into surrounding villages.

Like its close relative Numèè, it descends from Proto-Oceanic, brought to New Caledonia by Lapita settlers around 1000 BCE. Ndrumbea is one of the few tonal languages in the Austronesian family, using pitch to distinguish words, and it also preserves a series of consonants unusual among the languages of the region.