[3] Considerable lexical influence comes from Malay, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch,[4] and the North Halmahera languages.
[4][6] Despite its relatively large number of speakers, Gorontalo is under much pressure from Malay varieties, especially in urban settings.
[3] Sizable Gorontalo communities can be found in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, as well as Jakarta.
/d̠/, written ⟨ḓ⟩ in linguistic study materials, but not distinguished from ⟨d⟩ elsewhere, is a laminal post-alveolar coronal stop that is indeterminate as to voicing.
[8] Gorontalo words are stressed on the penultimate syllable, regardless of structure: momikiirangi "think", momikiirangipo "think before (doing something)".