Bugenhagen, Robert D. (1989). Modality in Mangap-Mbula: An exploration of its syntax and semantics. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, 20(1/2), 9-39.
In this paper I describe the encoding of modality in the Austronesian language Mangap-Mbula. Rather than relying upon the somewhat vague notion of “irrealis”, I propose an analysis in terms of three independent parameters – presupposition versus assertion, epistemic certainty/commitment, and factuality – and characterize these parameters using a more controlled semantic metalanguage. The latter parameter is somewhat deictic in nature, encoding a proposition which has been true at a specific time prior to the time of utterance or some other deictic center.
