past tense. ro=ʔa-biri=ʔia 3PL=IRR-work=3SG 'They are about to do it.' Demonstratives Demonstratives (i.e. spatial deictics) are used to position tangible objects/persons concerning speech-act participants. Articles and third-person pronouns are heavily related to demonstratives in numerous languages. There are numerous variations including time or temporal deictics, among others, but spatial deictics are a particularly essential element of comprehensive communication. To interpret a deictic, one must consider the specific context in terms of who said it, where it was said, and who it was directed at, as these are uniquely context-dependent. Wuvulu consists of demonstrative identifiers that allow for determining the proximity or spatial position in relation to the speaker. This is expressed by three forms, essential to determining the position in space of the subject, which is a concept inherited from Proto-Oceanic. As can be seen in table 1, the sequences 'close', 'far', and 'unspecified' are used to understand each specific context, using the distance in relation to the speaker. Broadly speaking, Oceanic languages utilise a three-way distinction between proximal, intermediate, and distal forms, but the way in which the distinction appears varies between languages. (Notably, refers to 'near' in spatial deictics, but is glossed as 'now' in a temporal context, and close anaphor in discourse reference. This alludes to the morphological complexity seen in Wuvulu.) This tends to be the observed close geographical trend of languages using a three-way contrast, but Loniu, a language spoken on Manus island (a neighboring island in the Bismarck Archipelago) features a two-way contrast, and is one of the closest geographical neighbors to Wuvulu and Aua. This may be due to a variety of reasons, but it demonstrates the significant variation in influences impacting specific languages to result in the diversity seen today. The demonstrative family of morphemes used in Wuvulu allows for many possible uses. Below is a table of the glossed translations of each plural form, including the distance of each spatial deictic. As can be seen below, the plural demonstrative is used to mark the plurality (people vs. singular person) through an unspecified distance; there is no particular distance in this context the speaker is trying to emphasize. the people REAL-jump on boat 'the people boarded the ship' Further, in the clearest sense, spatial deictics can be seen through speech acts from speaker to hearer, referring to proximity in space. This can be seen in: these stars REAL very light 'these stars