The Two-Part Vocal Style on Baluan Island Manus Province, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Baluan Island is a small island (approximately nine square miles) about 30 miles southeast of the main island of the Manus group. The population of this volcanic island is approximately 300. The clan system is exogamous-patrilineal. Owing to very fertile volcanic soil, Baluan is regarded as one of the garden islands of Manus Province, providing high-quality vegetables and fruit. The main source of income is from agriculture. The language spoken is officially called the Baluan language but the inhabitants refer to it as Ngola(m)banu okamo. The language belongs to the Melanesian group of Austronesian languages and is melodic and rich in vowels and diphthongs. The language used for interviewing was Melanesian Pidgin English. Well-known anthropologists such as Thurnwald (1910), Nevermann (1934), Mead (1965) and Schwartz (1963) have done fieldwork on Baluan. The island is well known among researchers and scholars because, among other things, it was the home of John Paliau, an important political leader who formed a radical religious-political group whose ideology was based on a cargo-cult. The Paliau Movement (Schwartz 1963) quickly changed the way of life in this area, interrupting traditional activities and events for almost a decade (1946-1954). One still encounters remnants of this sociocultural revolution on Baluan. (For a general Melanesian ethnography, see Cranstone 1961.)