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
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)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

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

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Consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar Labial-
Velar
Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩
Plosive/
Affricate
Voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ ⟨tsh⟩ k ⟨k⟩ k͡p ⟨kp⟩ ʔ ⟨'⟩
Voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ ⟨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 ~ ⱱ̟ ⟨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

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  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.
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  • SIL article on new phonetic symbol for labiodental flap