Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea.
It is a simplified version of Motu, of the Austronesian language family. Although it is strictly neither a pidgin nor a creole, it possesses some features of both language types. Phonological and grammatical differences make Hiri Motu mutually unintelligible with Motu. The languages are lexically very similar, and retain a common, albeit simplified, Austronesian syntactical basis.
Even in the areas where it was once well established as a lingua franca, the use of Hiri Motu has been declining in favour of Tok Pisin and English for many years. The language has some statutory recognition.
Origin of Hiri Motu
"Hiri Motu" became a common language for a police force known as "Police Motu".The term hiri is the name for the traditional trade voyages that created an important culture and style of living for the Motu people.
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 language’s 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 its 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
Dialects
Hiri Motu has two dialects, called "Austronesian" and "Papuan". Both dialects are in fact Austronesian in both grammar and vocabulary, due to their derivation from Motu; the dialect names refer to the first languages spoken by users of this lingua franca. The "Papuan" dialect was much more widely spoken in the language's heyday, and was, at least from about 1964, used as the standard for official publications. The "Austronesian" dialect is closer to Motu in grammar and phonology, and its vocabulary is both more extensive and closer to the original language. For these reasons, it was the prestige dialect, regarded by speakers as more "correct".The distinction between Motu and its "pidgin" dialects has been described as blurred – forming a continuum from the original "pure" language, through the established creoles, to what some writers have suggested constitutes a form of "Hiri Motu–based pidgin" used as a contact languages with people who had not fully acquired Hiri Motu, such as the Eleman and Koriki.
Phonology
| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Syntax
Personal pronouns
In the 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"
Now we explain "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"
Possessives
- egu=my
- emu=your
- emui=your
- ena=his,her,its
- edia=their
| Motu | Translation | S. | Pl |
| oi-emu | Yours | x | |
| lau-egu | mine | ||
| umui-emui | yours | x | |
| idia | they |
In the table above, the 'lau-egu' is placed before the noun, lau-egu boroma
Take note that the first half of the word may be taken out of the word. For example, 'lau-egu' can be shortened to 'egu boroma.
Postpositions
Hiri Motu uses postpositions. A standard postposition is 'ai', which can mean in, on, or at. For example, maua ai "in the box", pata ai "on the table", and Konedobu ai "at Konedobu ".Because Hiri Motu does not allow double vowels, ai will often fuse with the word. Some examples:
- lalo-na-ai > lalonai - in, inside
- lata-na-ai > latanai - on, on top of
Word order
In Hiri Motu, the word orders Subject–object–verb and Object-subject-verb are used interchangeably. These sentence structures either start with a subject which is followed by an object, or vice versa start with an object which is followed by a subject, and both end with a verb. Notice that the sentence always ends with a verb regardless of the word order.
OSV is more common in Hiri Motu.
With the option of having an SOV and an 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 immediately after the subject of the sentence.
With it, the sentence reads: "Inai mero ese boroma badana ia alaia" - "This boy killed a big pig."
However, do not over-use this subject marker. Use it only when the sentence would be ambiguous without it. You will never use a subject marker in a sentence in which the verb is an Intransitive verb.
Interrogatives
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?" and get a reply "Oibe", that can mean "Yes, he hasn't come yet". If the person has arrived, they will answer, "Lasi, ia mai" meaning. This can be a little tricky at times, so it's best to stray away from negative form questions.
Conjunction
eiava - orbona - and
bema - if
bena, vadeani - then
a, to - but
badina - because
Examples:
- Oi raka naomonamo, oi keta garina.
- Sinavai dekenai ia lao, haoda totona.
"To be and to have"
For example: 'Ia be mero namona' or 'la na mero namona
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", There are no standards for these expression forms in Hiri Motu.
Numbers
The numbers 1-5 in Hiri Motu are, respectively, ta, rua, toi, hani, ima.The number system in Hiri Motu goes all the way to 100,000. Many of the numbers in Hiri Motu are polysyllabic, meaning they have many syllables.
For example, 99 in Hiri Motu is taurahanita ahui taurahanita. Most Papuans know the English number system and use that instead.
History
The language has a history long pre-dating European contact; it developed among members of the Hiri trade cycle between the Motu people and their neighbours on the southeast coast of the island of New Guinea. In early European colonial days, the use of Hiri Motu was spread due to its adoption by the Royal Papuan Constabulary. By the early 1960s, Hiri Motu had probably reached its widest use, being the normal lingua franca of a large part of the country. It was the first language for many people whose parents came from different language groups.Since the early 1970s, if not earlier, the use of Hiri Motu as a day-to-day lingua franca in its old "range" has been gradually declining in favour of English and Tok Pisin. Today its speakers tend to be elderly, and concentrated in Central and Gulf provinces. Reflecting this situation, younger speakers of the "parent language" tend to be unfamiliar with Hiri Motu, and few of them understand or speak it well, which was certainly not the case a generation or two ago.