Following the ukulele theme backwards, it seems to have developed from the Portuguese Machete, which I believe was wire-string. What do we know of the machete? Strummed? Plucked? Fingers? Plectrum? I've known about the machete for years as they have one in Edinburgh University Museum of musical instruments - and a cute little thing it is, although broken and stringless - but have never read any research or heard one.
BTW, astonished at some of the strumming these uke players can do. There is one guy on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLAwSOELH9s&feature=related demonstrating a 'fan strum' which is a form of repicco - but goes like this: little finger down, ring finger down, thumb down, thumb up, which he can do at a phenomenal speed. I might get a DVD devoted to strumming the uke, as there is so much there of use to baroque guitar players. The repertoire might be different - Sweet Georgia Brown instead of La Folia - but the billions of alfabeto pieces are not so far off. Rob -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
