Pidgin · ISO 639-3 hmo · ho
Hiri Motu Language
Hiri Motu is a Pidgin language spoken by about 180,000 people in 1 country. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Hiri Motu is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Hiri Motu
Language family
- Pidgin
- Motu-based pidgin
- Hiri Motu
Writing system
Latin script
About the Hiri Motu language
Hiri Motu is spoken by about 180,000 people, which makes it the 521st most spoken language in the world — just behind Tonga (Tonga Islands) (186,010) and ahead of Lak (154,820). It belongs to the Pidgin language family.
Where is Hiri Motu spoken?
Hiri Motu is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Papua New Guinea (210,970).
Hiri Motu is an official language in 1 country: Papua New Guinea.
Writing system and status
Hiri Motu is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 ho, ISO 639-3 hmo.
Frequently asked questions about Hiri Motu
How many people speak Hiri Motu?
Where is Hiri Motu spoken?
In which countries is Hiri Motu an official language?
What language family does Hiri Motu belong to?
Is Hiri Motu an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.