'Realis' and 'irrealis' in Wogeo: A valid category?

Abstract

Finite verb forms in Wogeo, an Austronesian language of New Guinea, are obligatorily marked with a portmanteau prefix denoting person and number of the subject on the one hand, and a grammatical category that is conventionally glossed in the literature as realis–irrealis, on the other. In similar languages, the latter category is usually described as modal, with a certain range of meanings which is, in many cases, only vaguely defined. A more in-depth investigation of the verbal system of Wogeo and the functional distribution of the respective categories shows, however, that the language is quite different from a postulated prototypical realis–irrealis language. Central attributes of the supposed realis–irrealis semantics are not realized by the obligatory prefixes but by other morphosyntactic means, while the prefixes are restricted to only a small part of the assumed realis–irrealis domain.