Motu (sometimes called Pure Motu or True Motu to distinguish it from
Hiri Motu) is a
Central Papuan Tip language that is spoken by the
Motuans, an indigenous
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
of
Papua New Guinea. It is commonly used today in the region, particularly around the capital,
Port Moresby.
A simplified form of Motu developed as a trade language in the Papuan region, in the southeast of the main island of
New Guinea, originally known as Police Motu, and today known as
Hiri Motu. After
Tok Pisin and
English, Hiri Motu was at the time of independence the third most commonly spoken of the more than 800
languages of Papua New Guinea, although its use has been declining for some years, mainly in favour of Tok Pisin.
Motu is classified as one of the
Malayo-Polynesian languages and bears some linguistic similarities to
Polynesian and
Micronesian languages.
Phonology
Motu is a typical Austronesian language in that it is heavily vowel-based. Every Motu syllable ends in a vowel sound — this may be preceded by a single consonant (there are no "consonant clusters"). Vowel sounds may be either
monophthongs (consisting of a single basic sound) or
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
s (consisting of more than one basic sound).
There are only five vowel sounds ; Motu diphthongs are written and pronounced as combinations of two vowels. The sounds ''oi'' and ''oe'', ''ai'' and ''ae'', ''au'' and ''ao'' (approximately like English "boy, high, cow"), and ''r'' and ''l'' are distinguished in Motu but not in Hiri Motu. There is no letter ''f''; when it occurs in loan words, it is usually represented as ''p''.
Motu
Braille has the
usual letter assignments apart from ḡ, which is .
[Unesco reports the language as simply "Motu", but ''Ethnologue'' 17 only notes braille usage for Hiri Motu. However, Hiri Motu does not have the letter ḡ.]
References
*
Dutton, Tom (1985). ''Police Motu: Iena Sivarai (its story)''. Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea: University of Papua New Guinea Press.
* Taylor, Andrew J. (1970). ''Syntax and phonology of Motu: a transformational approach.''
* Lister-Turner, R and Clark, J.B. (1931), ''A Dictionary of the Motu Language of Papua'', Second Edition (P. Chatterton, ed).
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales: Government Printer.
* Brett, Richard; Brown, Raymond; Brown, Ruth and Foreman, Velma. (1962), ''A Survey of Motu and Police Motu''. Ukarumpa,
Papua New Guinea:
SIL International
SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to ex ...
.
*Wurm, S.A. and Harris, J.B., ''Police Motu'',
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
: SIL International, 1963
* External links
*
William George Lawes
William George Lawes (1 July 1839 – 6 August 1907) was an English-born Congregationalist minister, missionary and public lecturer. He was regarded as an expert on Papua.
Life
Lawes was born in Aldermaston, Berkshire, the son of Richard La ...
, ''Grammar and vocabulary of language spoken by Motu tribe (New Guinea)''
*
first edition Sydney: Thomas Richards, 1885.
*
second and revised edition Sydney: Charles Potter, 1888.
*
third and enlarged edition Sydney: Charles Potter, 1896.
*
Paradisec ha
a number of collections that include materials on Motu languages
{{Oceania topic, Languages of
Central Papuan Tip languages
Languages of Central Province (Papua New Guinea)