[NEW GUINEA] Police Motu : iena sivarai (its story)

[PNG] : University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1985. Linguistics series ; no. 2. Quarto, publisher’s pictorial stiff wrappers; pp xiv, 297; with numerous b/w photographic illustrations, maps, index, bibliography; text in English, with some Hiri Motu; a fine copy, from The Papuan Collection of Charles Fletcher (Melbourne), his bookplate to the title page.

Police Motu, also known as Hiri Motu, Pidgin Motu, or Hiri, is a simplified version of the Austronesian language Motu. It has slowly been replaced as the main lingua franca of southern Papua New Guinea by Tok Pisin.

Dutton’s language history is a significant scholarly achievement; however, Trove locates only three copies in Australian libraries (NLA; ANU; Australian War Memorial Research Centre)