Mono
Native toDemocratic Republic of the Congo
RegionNorthwestern corner of Congo (DRC)
Native speakers
(65,000 cited 1984 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mnh
Glottologmono1270
ELPMono (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Mono is a language spoken by about 65,000 people[2] in the northwestern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of the Banda languages, a subbranch of the Ubangian branch of the Niger–Congo languages. It has five dialects: Bili, Bubanda, Mpaka, Galaba, and Kaga.

Mono has 33 consonant phonemes, including three labial-velar stops (/k͡p/, /ɡ͡b/, and prenasalized /ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b/), an asymmetrical eight-vowel system, and a labiodental flap /ⱱ/ (allophonically a bilabial flap [ⱳ]) that contrasts with both /v/ and /w/. It is a tonal language.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal		 Velar Labial-
Velar		 Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩
Plosive/
Affricate		 Voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ tʃ ⟨tsh⟩ k ⟨k⟩ k͡p ⟨kp⟩ ʔ ⟨'⟩
Voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ dʒ ⟨dj⟩ g ⟨g⟩ ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩
Prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ⁿdʒ ⟨ndj⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨ng⟩ ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b ⟨ngb⟩
Implosive ɓ ⟨'b⟩ ɗ ⟨'d⟩
Fricative Voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨sh⟩ h ⟨h⟩
Voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩ ʒ ⟨j⟩
Trill/Tap ⱱ ⟨vw⟩ r ⟨r⟩
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ⟨i⟩ ɨ ⟨ɨ⟩ u ⟨u⟩
Close-mid e ⟨e⟩ ə ⟨œ⟩ o ⟨o⟩
Open-mid ɔ ⟨ɔ⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩
Tones[3]
High Mid Low
IPA ˥ ⟨á⟩ ˧ ⟨ā⟩ ˩ ⟨à⟩
Description High Level Mid Level Low Level
Transcription á a à
Example áwá ⟨áwá⟩ āwā ⟨awa⟩ àwà ⟨àwà⟩
English Meaning "diarrhea" "road" "fear"

References

  1. ↑ Mono at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Ethnologue report for Mono
  3. ↑ Olson, Kenneth S. 2004
  • Kamanda-Kola, Roger. 2003. Phonologie et morpho-syntaxe du mono: Langue oubanguienne du Congo R.D. (LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics 60). Munich: LINCOM EUROPA.
  • Olson, Kenneth S. (2004), "Mono" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 233–238, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744
  • Olson, Kenneth S. 2005. The phonology of Mono (SIL International and the University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics 140). Dallas: SIL & UTA.
  • Olson, Kenneth S. & Brian E. Schrag. 2000. 'An overview of Mono phonology'. In H. Ekkehard Wolff & Orin Gensler (eds.), Proceedings from the 2nd World Congress of African Linguistics, Leipzig 1997, 393–409. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
  • SIL article on new phonetic symbol for labiodental flap


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