Motu language

E157946

Motu is an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea, traditionally spoken around the Port Moresby area and known for its role in regional trade and communication.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Motu language canonical 6
Hiri Motu language 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Austronesian language
natural language
closelyRelatedTo Hoava language
surface form: Hula language

Keapara language
other Papuan Tip cluster languages
country Papua New Guinea
ethnicGroup Motu people
family Austronesian
hasAlternativeName Motu
hasCaseMarking postpositional
hasContactVariety Hiri Motu
hasDomainOfUse home and community communication
local markets and trade
hasGlottocode motu1246
hasLexicalInfluenceFrom English
Tok Pisin
hasMorphologicalType moderately agglutinative
hasNumberCategory plural
singular
hasPhonologicalFeature contrastive vowel length (in some analyses)
simple vowel system
small consonant inventory
hasPronounSystem distinguishes number
distinguishes person
hasStatus minority language
regional language
hasTenseAspectCategory non-past
past
hasWordOrder SVO
historicalFunction language of the Hiri trading voyages
influenced Hiri Motu
isSpokenAlong southern coast of Papua New Guinea near Port Moresby
isTaughtIn some primary schools in Motu-speaking areas
languageCodeISO639-2 meu
languageCodeISO639-3 meu
region Central Province, Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby
surface form: Port Moresby area
role regional lingua franca
regional trade language
spokenIn Papua New Guinea
subfamily Oceanic languages
subgroup Papuan Tip languages
traditionalSpeakersRegion villages around Port Moresby
usedFor coastal trade
intergroup communication
usedIn Christian religious practice in Papua New Guinea
local radio broadcasting around Port Moresby
writingSystem Latin alphabet
surface form: Latin script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Western Oceanic languages includesLanguage Motu language
this entity surface form: Hiri Motu language
Hiri Motu derivedFrom Motu language
Hiri Motu hasLexicalInfluenceFrom Motu language
Papuan Tip linkage hasLanguage Motu language
Hiri trade voyages languageContext Motu language