It is commonly used today in the region, particularly around the capital, Port Moresby.
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 a typical Austronesian language in that it is heavily vowel-based.
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.
[3] 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 ⠿.