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Origin of Hiri Motu
The term Hiri is the name for the traditional trade voyages created an important culture and style of living for the Motu people.

"Hiri Motu" became a common language for a police force known as "Police Motu".

The name Hiri Motu came to be during the early 1970s during a conference held by the Department of Information and Extension Services. During this conference, the committee recommended the name "Hiri Motu" for several reasons.


 * The languages history is older than the name "Police Motu" implies. This was recommended because it was a simplified from the language of the Motu people, which was the language used when they traded goods with their customers.
 * Police Motu, at the time was never used as a language of trade or social contact. In fact, since the unity of New Guinea Police Force in 1946, "Police Motu" had lost most of it's functions in police work.  Pidgin was adopted at that time and was used with majority of the police force.
 * The committee thought that the new name should have some meaning behind it. Instead of having a language relating to police work, they thought the language should reflect the legacy of the language and how it's used in everyday life.

Motu People
Motu people are native inhabitants of Papua New Guinea. They live along the southern coastal line of their country. Motu people typically live in dry areas, on the leeward side of the mountain. Where dry seasons are harsh on the people who live there. Traditional Hiri voyages carried prized treasures to the people of the Gulf of Papua.

Consonants
Hiri Motu language consists of now 19 letters in their alphabet: a, e, i, o, u, b, d, g, g, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v. ]\

The letter "g" is meant for two different sounds. One of the sound is similar to the "g" in the word go. On the other hand, it is pronounced differently through Point of articulation. This point is located in the throat area and sounds like "ch".

There are 14 consonants in Hiri Motu: b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w. You would pronounce these consonants as you would in English.

The Vowels
The five vowels are: a, e, i, o, u. All of these are pronounced normally except "O" This is an exception to the regular pronunciation, but it's similar to the sound of hot and the sound of ou in fought.

Double vowels: Also know as, Diphthong. Pronounce each vowel with little stress on each syllable, meaning; be smooth when pronouncing double vowels. If you listen to fluent Hiri Motu speakers, they will combine these vowels and it'll sound like one long vowel instead.

One thing to take note of is when double vowel ai is followed by another vowel, then you would get a small y sound in your pronunciation. For example, the word kaia (knife) is pronounced kai-ya. Another double vowel that can be tricky to pronounce when followed by another vowel is au. In this example, we will use the word maua, meaning box. Maua is pronounced mau-wa. You will hear a slight w when saying words with au, preceding another vowel.

Personal Pronouns
In Hiri Motu language, the distinction between "inclusive" and "exclusive" forms of "we" is very important.

To further explain this, think of a time when you and your friend were thirsty. You would go up to him and say "We have no water". When talking to your friend, you are including you and your friend. This "we" is inclusive, which is the person you are speaking to. In Hiri Motu this would be "Ita" (we, inclusive)

Now explaining "we" exclusive using the same example. Now say you and your friend approach a different person and tell him "we have no water" this excludes the person who is not thirsty. The word for this is Ai (we, exclusive)

Possessives

 * Egu=my


 * emu=your (singular)


 * emui=your (plural)


 * ena=his,her,it's


 * edia=their

In the table above, the 'lau-egu' is placed before the noun, lau-egu boroma (my pig)

Take note that the first half of the word (lau, oi) may be taken out of the word. For example, 'lau-egu' can be shortened to 'egu boroma.

Postposition
Preposition is a word placed beofre a noun to create a phrase, this is similar to an adjective or adverb. But, in Hiri Motu, such words are placed after the noun, not before it, and can be called postposition.

Some standard postposition in hiri Motu is 'ai' which can meaan in, on, or at.

Maua ai - in the box

pata ai - on the table

Konedobu ai - at Konedobu (referring to a location)

Take note: 'maua ai' is merged to 'mauai' and 'pata ai' to 'patai', here are some examples:


 * lalo-na-ai - changed to lalonai - in, inside
 * lata-na-ai - chenged to latanai - on, on top of

Word Order
Word Order

In Hiri Motu, the word order can be interchangeable with Subject–object–verb (SOV) and Object-subject-verb (OSV). These sentence structure will start with a subject followed by an object, and then ending with a verb and vice versa, object, followed by a subject, and ending with a verb. Notice that the sentence will always end with a verb no matter the word order.

OSV is more common in Hiri Motu.

With the option of having a SOV and OSV word order, some ambiguity may come about in some cases.

For example, "Inai mero boroma badana ia alaia" can either mean, "This boy killed a big pig" or "A big pig killed this boy"

To solve this, a subject marker can be used. In Hiri Motu, the subject marker is "ese", and is placed right after the subject of the sentence.

Now it will look like this: "Inai mero ese boroma badana ia alaia" (Literally, This boy, a big pig killed him.) - "A big pig killed this boy"

However, don't over-use this subject marker. Use it only when the sentence would be ambiguous without it. You will never use subject marker in a sentence in which the verb is an Intransitive verb.

Interrogatives
(Edana is sometimes spelt and pronounced Edena)

Take note that 'hida' always follows the noun it is referring to, while 'edana' always follows it.

Examples:

Unai mero daika? Who is that boy?

Inai gau dahaka? What is this thing?

Dahaka oi karaia? What are you doing?

Stay away from question in the negative form, some of the replies/answers you receive can be confusing.

For example, If you ask "la mai lasi?" (Hasn't he come?) and get a reply "Oibe" (yes), that can mean "Yes, he hasn't come yet". If the person has arrived, they will answer, "Lasi, ia mai" meaning (No, he has come). This can be a little tricky at times, so it's best to stray away from negative form questions.

Conjunction
eiava - or

bona - and

bema - if

bena, vadeani - then

a, to - but

badina - because

Examples:


 * Oi raka naomonamo, oi keta garina. (Walk carefully, lest you fall.)
 * Sinavai dekenai ia lao, haoda totona. (He went to the river (in order) to catch fish.)

"To Be and To Have"
When "to be" is used as a connecting word, the parts "na" and "be" can be used, but it is not needed for this case.

For example: 'Ia be mero namona' or 'la na mero namona (He is a good boy)

Note that there is no Hiri Motu verb form of "to have" in the sense of possession, like in the sentence 'I have a dog'

In true Hiri Motu, a local would say "Lau na mai egu sisia" for "I have a dog", (literally, 'I with my dog'.) There are no standards for these expression forms in Hiri Motu.

Numbers
ta=one

rua=two

toi=three

hani=four

ima=five

The number system in Hiri Motu language goes all they way to 100,000. Many of the numbers in Hiri Motu are Polysyllabic, meaning they have many syllables. Which means that larger numbers are long words.

For example, 99 in Hiri Motu is, taurahanita ahui taurahanita. Most Papuan(s) know the English number system and can use that instead.