BELL1977-001 - lexical attestation

Tanga tangalop bullroarer size grades

Papua New Guinea - Tanga Islands (Boang, Malendok, Lif, Tefa) - New Ireland Province - former German New Guinea - Oceania - Sahul

Restricted

On the Tanga Islands off New Ireland, size told you what you were hearing. Tangalop was the common bullroarer, about eleven inches of whirled wood. Tomlulur, barely five inches, was the small type; tom-mis-mis, at two and a half feet, the largest. Burrarumarum outgrew them all -- too big to swing by hand, it was whirled instead on the end of a bamboo pole. A single English gloss could not hold what Tanga speakers heard as four distinct instruments.

BURRARUMARUM larger type of bull-roarer than the tangalop, swung by means of a bamboo pole.

Bell 1977:198

Object

Four size grades of wooden bullroarer distinguished by Tanga speakers: tomlulur, about 5 inches, the small type; tangalop, about 11 inches, the common term; burrarumarum, larger than tangalop and swung from a bamboo pole rather than by hand; and tom-mis-mis, the largest type, 2'6" long. No blade shape, cord length, or object figure is supplied.

Function

Sounded at the initiation of boys into Sokapana, the man-devouring ghost of the Tanga secret society: with lizard-skin drums and reed pipes the bullroarers accompanied the rites and stood as "representations of the spirits' voices". Four named size grades, the largest (burrarumarum) swung from a bamboo pole.

Map confidence

high - Reuses this catalog's existing Nominatim/OpenStreetMap-resolved Tanga Island point (see PNG169); Bell's dictionary covers the whole Tanga language area, matching the source's own scope rather than a single village.

Source location

printed p. 198

• Spirit voice
• Initiation rite
• Forbidden to women

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