Function of preverbal pë- in the language variety of Tepërav (Espiegle Bay)

Abstract

The language variety of Tepërav (Espiegle Bay, Malekula Island) has a preverbal morpheme pë- (also pe- and po-), which is positioned between the subject index and the verb root. This morpheme was originally classified as ‘intentive’ by Holmes (2014: 80-81) based on a very small text corpus. In a larger corpus for the language (Barbour & Tarosa 2011-2023), pë- is attested with a range of functions that have been associated with irrealis mood in other Malekula languages, such as Neverver (Barbour 2012). The question thus arises: is pë- an irrealis marker? And if not, what range of functions does it cover?