Kaluli
Encyclopedia
The Kaluli are a clan of non-literate indigenous peoples who live in the rain forests of Great Papuan Plateau
in Papua New Guinea
. The Kaluli, who numbered approximately 2000 people in 1987, are the most numerous and well documented by post-contact ethnographers and missionaries among the four language-clans of Bosavi kalu ("men of Bosavi") that together share a linguistic affiliation within the larger family of Non-Austronesian languages
. Their numbers are thought to have declined precipitously following post-contact disease epidemics in the 1940s, and have not rebounded due high infant mortality rates and periodic influenza outbreaks. The Kaluli are monolingual in their ergative
language.
The Kaluli live in longhouses, about twenty in number, which operate as autonomous communities. Each longhouse houses approximately fifteen families, numbering approximately 60 to 90 per longhouse , that each divide into two or three patrilineal lineage
s. Many families have begun to live mainly in smaller separate dwellings for two or more extended families, while still maintaining their communal longhouse (circa 1984). They are a highly egalitarian people without a hierarchical authority or ranked
social structure. They are swidden agriculturalists
whose food staple is the sago
. They maintain extensive gardens while also pursuing hunting and fishing : their diet is supplemented by garden cultivated banana, pandanus
, breadfruit
and green vegetables, as well as fish, small game, wild pig and occasionally domestic pig
.
. This is especially expressed in the socialization
, or child-raising process, of infants to adults. For instance, when a infant first uses the words for "mother" and "breast", the behaviors oriented toward that child change: beforehand, a child is not considered to be capable of having specific intentions, whereas after this competence milestone the process of "teaching[the child] how to talk" begins, and thus talk begins to be directed directly at the child. This does not exist in middle-class Anglo cultures, where infants are addressed somewhat like intentioned competant individuals from birth through the use of baby-talk
, which saliently does not exist in Kaluli culture. For this reason, the Kaluli language
has been one of the languages invoked to describe the difficulty of meta-pragmatic-analysis in linguistics—in that many ethnographers, linguists, and anthropologists are biased towards their own culture—and to lobby for a more comparative
approach.
Great Papuan Plateau
The Great Papuan Plateau is a karst plateau in the Southern Highlands and Western Provinces of Papua New Guinea. It is bordered the upper stretches of the Kikori River and the Strickland River on the east and west, respectively, and the Karius Range, the southern edge of the highlands, including...
in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. The Kaluli, who numbered approximately 2000 people in 1987, are the most numerous and well documented by post-contact ethnographers and missionaries among the four language-clans of Bosavi kalu ("men of Bosavi") that together share a linguistic affiliation within the larger family of Non-Austronesian languages
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
. Their numbers are thought to have declined precipitously following post-contact disease epidemics in the 1940s, and have not rebounded due high infant mortality rates and periodic influenza outbreaks. The Kaluli are monolingual in their ergative
Ergative-absolutive language
An ergative–absolutive language is a language that treats the argument of an intransitive verb like the object of a transitive verb, but differently from the agent of a transitive verb.-Ergative vs...
language.
The Kaluli live in longhouses, about twenty in number, which operate as autonomous communities. Each longhouse houses approximately fifteen families, numbering approximately 60 to 90 per longhouse , that each divide into two or three patrilineal lineage
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
s. Many families have begun to live mainly in smaller separate dwellings for two or more extended families, while still maintaining their communal longhouse (circa 1984). They are a highly egalitarian people without a hierarchical authority or ranked
Ranked society
A ranked society in anthropology is one that ranks individuals in terms of their genealogical distance from the chief. Closer relatives of the chief have higher rank or social status than more distant ones. When individuals and groups rank about equally, competition for positions of leadership may...
social structure. They are swidden agriculturalists
Shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. This system often involves clearing of a piece of land followed by several years of wood harvesting or farming, until the soil loses fertility...
whose food staple is the sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...
. They maintain extensive gardens while also pursuing hunting and fishing : their diet is supplemented by garden cultivated banana, pandanus
Pandanus
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...
, breadfruit
Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
and green vegetables, as well as fish, small game, wild pig and occasionally domestic pig
Domestic pig
The domestic pig is a domesticated animal that traces its ancestry to the wild boar, and is considered a subspecies of the wild boar or a distinct species in its own right. It is likely the wild boar was domesticated as early as 13,000 BC in the Tigris River basin...
.
Language and Development
Everyday life of the Kaluli people has been characterized by ethnolinguists as overtly centered around verbal interaction (in comparison to middle-class Anglo cultures). Spoken language is used as as the primary explicit method of communicating desires, expression of thought, control and appeal. It is therefore the primary index of cultural competenceCultural competence
Cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures, particularly in the context of human resources, non-profit organizations, and government agencies whose employees work with persons from different cultural/ethnic backgrounds.Cultural competence...
. This is especially expressed in the socialization
Socialization
Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
, or child-raising process, of infants to adults. For instance, when a infant first uses the words for "mother" and "breast", the behaviors oriented toward that child change: beforehand, a child is not considered to be capable of having specific intentions, whereas after this competence milestone the process of "teaching
Baby talk
Baby talk, also referred to as caretaker speech, infant-directed speech or child-directed speech and informally as "motherese", "parentese", "mommy talk", or "daddy talk" is a nonstandard form of speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants.It is usually delivered with a "cooing"...
, which saliently does not exist in Kaluli culture. For this reason, the Kaluli language
Kaluli language
Kaluli, or Bosavi, is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. Named dialects are Ologo, Kaluli, Walulu, Kugenesi, but differences are not significant....
has been one of the languages invoked to describe the difficulty of meta-pragmatic-analysis in linguistics—in that many ethnographers, linguists, and anthropologists are biased towards their own culture—and to lobby for a more comparative
Comparative method
In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor, as opposed to the method of internal reconstruction, which analyzes the internal...
approach.