View source for Mono language (California)

{{short description|Native American language of California}}
{{Other uses|Mono language (disambiguation){{!}}Mono language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mono
| states           = [[United States]]
| region           = [[California]]
| ethnicity        = [[Mono people|Mono]] and Owens Valley Paiute
| speakers         = 41
| ref              = {{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=30}}
| date             = 1994, Mono
| familycolor      = Uto-Aztecan
| fam2             = Northern
| fam3             = [[Numic languages|Numic]]
| fam4             = Western
| iso3             = mnr
| glotto           = mono1275
| glottorefname    = Mono (USA)
| map              = File:Mono map.svg
| map2             = Lang Status 20-CR.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Mono is classified as Critically Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| speakers2        = 50 (1994, Owens Valley Paiute)
| dia1             = Mono
| dia2             = Owens Valley Paiute
}}

'''Mono''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|oʊ|n|oʊ}} {{respell|MOH|noh}}) is a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] language of the [[Numic languages|Numic]] group of [[Uto-Aztecan languages]], the ancestral language of the [[Mono people]]. Mono consists of two dialects, ''Eastern'' and ''Western''.  The name "Monachi" is commonly used in reference to Western Mono and "Owens Valley Paiute" in reference to Eastern Mono.<ref name=cali/> In 1925, [[Alfred Kroeber]] estimated that Mono had 3,000 to 4,000 speakers. {{As of|1994}}, only 37 elderly people spoke Mono as their first language.{{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=30}} It is classified as [[Endangered languages|critically endangered]] by [[Red Book of Endangered Languages|UNESCO]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger |url=https://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/index.php}}</ref> It is spoken in the southern [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]], the [[Mono Basin]], and the [[Owens Valley]] of central-eastern [[California]]. Mono is most closely related to [[Northern Paiute language|Northern Paiute]]; these two are classified as the Western group of the [[Numic languages|Numic]] branch of the [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan language family]].<ref name="cali">[https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/mono.php "Mono."] ''Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley.'' 2009-2010 (retrieved 6 May 2010)</ref>{{sfn|Klein|1959}}

==Western Mono==
[[File:Mono audio- mnr story (UCLAPhoneticsLab).webm|thumb|Story in Mono recorded by the [[UCLA Phonetics Lab]] in 1984]]
The number of Native speakers in 1994 ranged from 37 to 41. The majority of speakers are from the [[Northfork Rancheria]] and the community of [[Auberry, California|Auberry]]. The [[Big Sandy Rancheria]] and [[Dunlap, California|Dunlap]] have from 12 to 14 speakers.{{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=30}} The Northfork Mono are developing a dictionary, and both they and the Big Sandy Rancheria provide language classes. While not all are completely fluent, about 100 members of Northfork have "some command of the language."{{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=31}} In the late 1950s, Lamb compiled a dictionary and grammar of Northfork Mono.{{sfn|Miller|1986|p=101}} The Western Mono language has a number of Spanish loanwords dating to the period of Spanish colonization of [[the Californias]],{{sfn|Kroskrity|Reinhardt|1985}} as well as loanwords from [[Yokuts language|Yokuts]] and [[Miwok language|Miwok]].{{sfn|Loether|1998}}{{sfn|Loether|1993}}

==Owens Valley Paiute==
In the mid-1990s, an estimated 50 people spoke the Owens Valley Paiute language, also known as Eastern Mono.{{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=30}} Informal language classes exist and singers keep native language songs alive.{{sfn|Hinton|1994|p=31}} Linguist [[Sydney Lamb]] studied this language in the 1950s and proposed the name Paviotso, but that was not widely adopted.{{sfn|Miller|1986|p=98}}<ref>The Handbook of Indians of California, by A. L. Kroeber (1919) says that the Owens Valley Paiutes are Northern Paiute or Mono/Bannock.</ref>

==Phonemes==

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
!
! [[Front vowel|front]]
! [[Central vowel|central]]
![[Back vowel|back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}
| {{IPAlink|ɨ}}{{efn|Represented phonemically as /y/ by Lamb, but is described as being phonetically {{IPAblink|ɨ}} after front consonants and {{IPAblink|ʉ}} after back consonants.}}
| {{IPAlink|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Non-High]]
| {{IPAlink|e}}
| {{IPAlink|a}}
| {{IPAlink|o}}
|}
{{notelist}}

* Vowel length is also evenly distributed among the dialects.

===Consonants===
Below is given the consonant phoneme inventory of Northfork Western Mono and Owens Valley Paiute as presented by Lamb (1958) and Liljeblad & Fowler (1986).

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Consonants of Western Mono{{sfn|Lamb|1958}}
! rowspan=2 |
! rowspan=2 | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! rowspan=2 | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! rowspan=2 | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan=2 | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! colspan=2 | [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan=2 | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>plain</small> || <small>[[Labialization|lab.]]</small>
! <small>plain</small> || <small>[[Labialization|lab.]]</small>
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} || {{IPAlink|n}} || || || || || ||
|-
! [[Plosive]]
| {{IPAlink|p}} || {{IPAlink|t}} || || {{IPAlink|k}} || {{IPAlink|kʷ}} || {{IPAlink|q}}{{efn|/k/ and /q/ are in semi-complementary distribution: /k/ occurs before /i/ and /e/, /q/ occurs before /o/ and /u/. They contrast only before /a/.}} || {{IPAlink|qʷ}} || {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
! [[Affricate]]
| || {{IPAlink|ts}} || || || || || ||
|-
! [[Fricative]]
| || {{IPAlink|s}} || ||{{IPAlink|x}} || || ||  || {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! [[Semivowel]]
| || || {{IPAlink|j}} || || {{IPAlink|w}} || || ||
|}{{notelist}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Consonants of Eastern Mono{{sfn|Liljeblad|Fowler|1986|pp=412-434}}
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>plain</small> || <small>[[Labialization|lab.]]</small>
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} || {{IPAlink|n}} || || {{IPA link|ŋ}}|| {{IPA link|ŋʷ}}||
|-
! [[Plosive]]
| {{IPAlink|p}} || {{IPAlink|t}} || || {{IPAlink|k}} || {{IPAlink|kʷ}} || {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
! [[Affricate]]
| || {{IPAlink|ts}} || {{IPAlink|tʃ}}|| || ||
|-
! [[Fricative]]
| || {{IPAlink|s}} || || || || {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! [[Semivowel]]
| || || {{IPAlink|j}} || || {{IPAlink|w}} ||
|}

* Geminated sounds of plosives, nasals and fricatives are also evenly distributed.

===Suprasegmental===
Lamb (1958) also described four [[suprasegmental]] features{{Which|date=September 2024}} that he ascribed phonemic status.

==Morphology==
Mono is an [[agglutinative]] language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several [[morpheme]]s strung together.

==See also==
* [[Mono traditional narratives]]

==References==
{{reflist|20em}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |first=Leanne |last=Hinton |author-link=Leanne Hinton |date=1994 |title=Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages |location=Berkeley |publisher=Heyday Books |isbn=0-930588-62-2 |url=https://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/ES-110/ETHN110articles/California/hinton_21-69.pdf}}
* {{cite journal |first=Wick R. |last=Miller |author-link=Wick R. Miller |date=1986 |title=Numic Languages |journal=Handbook of North American Indians: Great Basin |volume=11 |pages=98–106 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-0-16-004581-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofnorth011stur}}
* {{cite book |first1=Sven |last1=Liljeblad |first2=Catherine |last2=Fowler |author2-link=Catherine S. Fowler |date=1986 |chapter=Owens Valley Paiute |title=Great Basin |editor=W. L. d'Azevedo |pages=412–434 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}
* {{cite thesis |first=Sydney M |last=Lamb |author-link=Sydney Lamb |year=1958 |title=A Grammar of Mono |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |url=https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/documents/dissertations/lamb-1958.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602011837/https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/documents/dissertations/lamb-1958.pdf |archive-date=June 2, 2012}}
* {{cite journal |first1=Paul V. |last1=Kroskrity |first2=Gregory A. |last2=Reinhardt |date=Apr 1985 |title=On Spanish Loans in Western Mono |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=51 |number=2 |pages=231–237 |doi=10.1086/465868}}
* {{cite book |first=Christopher |last=Loether |date=1998 |chapter=Yokuts and Miwok Loan Words in Western Mono |title=The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright |pages=101–122 |editor-first1=Jane H. |editor-last1=Hill |editor-first2=P. J. |editor-last2=Mistry |editor-first3=Lyle |editor-last3=Campbell |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110811155.101 |isbn=978-3-11-015633-1}}
* {{cite journal |first=Christopher |last=Loether |date=1993 |title=Nɨ-ɨ-mɨna Ahubiya: Western Mono Song Genres |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology |volume=15 |number=1 |pages=48–57 |jstor=27825506}}
* {{cite journal |first=Sheldon |last=Klein |date=Oct 1959 |title=Comparative Mono-Kawaiisu |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=25 |number=4 |pages=233–238 |doi=10.1086/464537}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
 | first1=Rosalie  |last1=Bethel
 | last2=Kroskrity |first2= Paul V.
 | last3=Loether   |first3=Christopher
 | last4=Reinhardt |first4=Gregory A.
 | year=1993
 | title=A Dictionary of Western Mono
 | publisher=American Indian Studies Center, University of California
 | location=Los Angeles
}}
* {{cite book
 | first = Sydney M | last = Lamb | author-link = Sydney Lamb
 | title = Monachi dictionary
 | url=https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/documents/publications/Lamb.002.pdf
 | publisher=Ms., Survey of California and Other Indian Languages 
 | access-date=July 9, 2012
}}
* {{cite thesis
 | first = Evan J. | last = Norris
 | year= 1986
 | title = A Grammar Sketch and Comparative Study of Eastern Mono
 | type = PhD dissertation
 | publisher = University of California, San Diego
}}

=== Language revitalization ===
*{{cite news
 |first=Norimitsu |last=Onishi
 |date=17 June 2012
 |title=With Casino Revenues, Tribes Push to Preserve Languages, and Cultures
 |work=The New York Times
 |page=14
 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/chukchansi-tribe-in-california-pushes-to-preserve-language.html}}
*{{Cite news
| first = Charles | last = McCarthy
| title = Learning an almost lost language; The few Mono Indians remaining who speak their tongue are passing it down to children to preserve culture.
| work = The Fresno Bee
| access-date = 2012-07-09
| date = 2007-10-14
| url = https://www.kumeyaay.com/kumeyaay-news/news-archive/185-learning-an-almost-lost-language-the-few-mono-indians-remaining-who-speak-their-tongue-are-passing-it-down-to-children-to-preserve-culture.html
}}
*{{Cite news
| first = James |last = May
| title = Defying the Silence, Part 2: A Race Against Time
| work = Indian Country Today
| access-date = 2012-07-09
| date = 2003-07-11
| url = https://senaawest.bravehost.com/nativelanguage/defyingsilence.htm
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220081758/https://senaawest.bravehost.com/nativelanguage/defyingsilence.htm
| archive-date = 2013-12-20
| url-status = dead
}}

==External links==
*{{Cite web
| title = Mono Language and the Mono Indian Tribe (Monache, Monachi)
| access-date = 2012-07-09
| url = https://www.native-languages.org/mono.htm
}}
*[https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/mono.php Mono language] overview at the [[Survey of California and Other Indian Languages]]
*{{Citation

| title = Nuumu Yadoha Language Program: Lessons 1 thru 8 CD, Quick Pronunciation Guide: Lessons 9-16 CD
| access-date = 2012-07-09
| date = April 2002
| url = https://eslibrary.berkeley.edu/NASsites/finding-aid-native-american-audio-collection
}}
*[https://www.language-archives.org/language/mnr OLAC resources in and about the Mono language]

{{Uto-Aztecan languages}}
{{Languages of California}}
{{Populations of Native California Groups}}
{{Language families}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mono language}}
[[Category:Mono people]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Numic languages]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of California]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Great Basin]]
[[Category:Endangered Uto-Aztecan languages]]
[[Category:Native American language revitalization]]