Mono language (Congo)

For other uses, see Mono language.
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 is an indigenous 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.

Phonology

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 [ⱱ̟]) that contrasts with both /v/ and /w/. It is a tonal language.

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 ~ 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⟩
Transcription á a à
Example áwá ⟨áwá⟩ āwā ⟨awa⟩ àwà ⟨àwà⟩
English Meaning "diarrhea" "road" "fear"

Sample text

The North Wind and the Sun text was translated into Mono by Gaspard Yalemoto Suma, Marie Sungayase Yalemoto, Kilio Mapuya and Ama Geangozo. The translation is based on the French version of the text found in Fougeron & Smith (1993). The text was read by a male native speaker of Mono, about 35 years old. The individual words illustrating the various sounds were read by a male native speaker of Mono, about 40 years old.[4]

Ayigu endje dœ ɔlɔ pa lima gbarama. Uzu dœ uzu pa lima adeke, œnœ da sœ dœ gbɔgbɔ kœdo pa nœ. Lɔkɔ endje wu anga gene bale a tshe dje lœba ɨzɨ gatœ ɨgɨ ye. Kœndo dœ endje, endje tɔ adeke uzu a tshé kàkara lœba tœ ɨgɨ ye da sœ gbɔgbɔ kœro pa nœ. Tœrale yigu na kpɨ, kpɨ, kpɨ, kpɨ. Kpɨ, kpɨ, kpɨ gba, gene nœ kpa soro lœba nœ gatœ ye. Œrrrœ yigu Totoro kœkakara tœ ɨgɨ ye. Manda nœ, ɔlɔ kpa tɔ vwege, vwege, vwege, Osho wo tœ gene. Tshe vwara lœba nœ tœ ɨgɨ ye. Yigu wu atamœ, œ yi ndœ nœ adeke ɔlɔ do pa nœ dœ gbɔgbɔ.

References

  1. ^ Mono at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ethnologue report for Mono
  3. ^ Olson, Kenneth S. 2004
  4. ^ Olson, Kenneth S. (December 2004). "Mono". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (2): 233–238. doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744. ISSN 1475-3502.
  • 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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