[4] The word Tamambo is the native name of the island of Malo, as pronounced in the western dialect.

There are four classes of pronouns, which is not uncommon in other Austronesian languages:[10] Independent pronouns behave grammatically similarly to other NPs in that they can occur in the same slot as a subject NP, functioning as the head of a NP.

However, in regular discourse, they are not used a great deal due to the obligatory nature of cross-referencing subject pronouns.

Use of independent pronouns is often seen as unnecessary and unusual except in the following situations: In the instance where two NPs are joined as a single subject, the independent pronoun reflects the number of the conjoint NP: Ku1SGvano.goKu vano.1SG go'I went.

Comparing the two examples, the latter placing the emphasis on the subject: O2SGvano?goO vano?2SG go'Are you going?

'[14]Subject pronouns are an obligatory component of a verbal phrase, indicating the person and number of the NP.

[106]Mo-iso3SG-finishna-le3PL-TAovi,livena-natu-raPL-child-POSS:3PLna3PLtelenot.yetsuiha...strongMo-iso na-le ovi, na-natu-ra na tele suiha...3SG-finish 3PL-TA live PL-child-POSS:3PL 3PL not.yet strong'So then they were living there, (but) their children were not yet strong...' [103]In Tamambo, modality can be expressed through the future marker –mbo and the two 3SG subject pronouns, mo (realis) and a (irrealis).

[24] In Tamambo, the negative particle -te and aspectual lete can be used in conjunction with the 3SG irrealis a to express that a situation or action is not known to have happened.

Mo3SGmatahufrightenedmatanSUBtaura-nauncle-POSS:3SGa-te3SG-NEGmai.comeMo matahu matan taura-na a-te mai.3SG frightened SUB uncle-POSS:3SG 3SG-NEG come'He is afraid that his uncle might not come.'

[97]Nebutareifsohenlikea3SGleteneverlaitakenaARTmanji,animal,a-mbo3SG-FUTturustandaietherea3SGhisitoucha3SGmate...dieNe are sohen a lete lai na manji, a-mbo turu aie a hisi a mate...but if like 3SG never take ART animal, 3SG-FUT stand there 3SG touch 3SG die'But if it was such that he never caught any fish, he would stand there until he died...' [101]In Tamambo, only the 3SG preverbal subject form has a irrealis, thus when -te is used with other preverbal subject pronouns, the time of event can be ambiguous, and phrases must be understood from context and other lexemes.

For example, the verb tete can only be used in conjunction with the 3SG preverbal subject pronominal clitic.

[59]The 3SG pronoun's of a (irrealis) and mo (realis) are used in conjunction with tete to respond to varying questions depending on whether the answer is certain or not.

[64]...ka-te1PL-NEGsoari-a,see-OBJ:3SGka1PLsai-asearch-OBJ:3SGmo3SGtetenegative...ka-te soari-a, ka sai-a mo tete1PL-NEG see-OBJ:3SG 1PL search-OBJ:3SG 3SG negative'...we didn't see it, we looked for it (but) there was nothing.'

[32] The condition and the 'if not' (bolded) component occur together before the main clause illustrated in example [124].

[32] Balosuropresent.timeku1SGvuro-hofight-OBJ:2SGhinaPREPhamba-kuwing-POSS:1SGnianithiso2SGlaia-a,take-OBJ:3SGrothuso2SGlai-atake-OBJ:3SGaleifa-tete-ro3SG-negative-thuso2SGmate!dieBalosuro ku vuro-ho hina hamba-ku niani o laia-a, ro o lai-a ale a-tete-ro o mate!present.time 1SG fight-OBJ:2SG PREP wing-POSS:1SG this 2SG take-OBJ:3SG thus 2SG take-OBJ:3SG if 3SG-negative-thus 2SG die'(So) now I'm going to fight you with these wings of mine and you defend yourself, so you defend yourself and if not then you're dead!'

[34] Demonstrative pronouns are organised into a two-way framework, which is based on the distance relative to the speaker and the addressee.

[34] Tamambo, like many other Oceanic languages and possibly Proto-Oceanic, includes a demonstrative system which functions to reference previous discourse.

[34]Tamambo includes the demonstrative pronoun, niaro, used for emphasis, as shown in example (5).

These three sets of spatial modifiers can be organised into three groups depending on the distance from the speaker, a trait common to demonstratives in Oceanic languages.

Aien refers to location in place or time more generally than another spatial modifier, roni.

[39]Roni is used to refer to a place visible to both the speaker and the listener, and is more specific than aien.

[39]These adverbs share the same forms as demonstrative pronouns and modifiers, but they occur at different parts of the sentence and perform different functions.

[38] In addition, the pointing gesture which commonly accompanies the adverbs niani, niae and niala can be derived from the demonstrative function of the Proto-Austronesian component *ni.

[41] Niani translates to 'here', where the referenced entity is close to the speaker, as shown in example (11).

O2SGboiwantmwendeparticular.onenianithisteneormo3SGtete?NEGO boi mwende niani tene mo tete?2SG want particular.one this or 3SG NEGDo you want this one or not?

[43] Ka1PLmaicomeanaPREPjaraplacetaweabignianithis...Ka mai ana jara tawea niani1PL come PREP place big this...We came to this big place...[43]In this example, the demonstrative modifier niani follows directly after the descriptive adjective tawera, which in turn follows the head noun jara.

[43]In example (16), the demonstrative modifier niani directly follows the after the noun samburu.

[43]In example (17), the demonstrative modifier niala follows directly after the first tamalohi, which is the person the speaker is referring to.

Niaro is the only emphatic reference modifier, which can also only occur posthead as shown in example (20).

[45]TA:tense-aspect marker REP:repeating action LINK:possessive linker REF:prior reference made