Hiri Motu Language

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Hiri Motu, is an official language of Papua New Guinea. It is a simplified version of Motu and although it is strictly neither a pidgin nor a creole it possesses some features of both language types. Phonological and grammatical differences mean not only that Hiri Motu speakers cannot understand Motu, but also that Motu speakers not exposed to Hiri Motu have similar difficulties, though the languages are lexically very similar, and retain a common Austronesian syntactical basis. Hiri Motu has two dialects, called Austronesian and Papuan. Both dialects are of course Austronesian in both grammar and vocabulary due to their original derivation ¿ the dialect names refer to the "first languages" spoken by users of this lingua franca. The Papuan dialect was in the language's heyday much more widely spoken, and was, at least from about 1964, used as the standard for official publications: but the Austronesian (or "Central") dialect is closer to Motu in grammar and phonology, and its vocabulary is both more extensive, and also closer to the "original" language.