Mono (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
[aka Amono,]Classification: Niger-Congo
·vulnerable
Classification: Niger-Congo
·vulnerable
Information from: “The phonology of Mono” (310) . Olson, Kenneth S. (2005) SIL International
"Despite pressure from other languages, particularly Lingala, Mono language use remains vigorous, and it does not appear that Mono is in danger of extinction in the near future. In fact, Fultz and Morgan (1986) observe an increase in the use of Mono in that several villages which used to speak Yapka, Togbo, or Kpagua now speak Mono. All in all, the attitude of Mono speakers towards their language is positive. Mono remains the language that children learn first at home, and Lingala is normally not learned until a child goes to school."
Lingala
French
Gobu
Togbo
Ngbaka-Minagende
Ngbandi
Sango
"In the Bili region, it is not uncommon for a Mono speaker to be multilingual, to different degrees, in several other languages. These languages include Lingala, French, other Banda languages in the region (Gobu, Togbo, and Langbasi), Ngbaka-Minagende, Ngbandi, and Sango. Lingala... is understood by many people [and] speaking the language is considered prestigious. It is used in contact situations with Bantu-speaking groups such as the Ngombe to the south, in governmental situations, and in primary school... French is spoken by some Mono people... but it is certainly less than the percentage proficient in Lingala."
"Mono is spoken in five distinct regions of northwestern DRC. The Mono people identify these five regions as each having a distinct dialect: Bili, Bubanda, Mpaka, Galaba, and Kaga. The first two regions are in the Bosobolo Zone, whereas the last three are in the Libenge zone."
Information from: “Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)” . M. Paul Lewis · SIL International
Data for the number of native speakers comes from the 1984 census.
Lingala
Sango
Most also use Lingala [lin] or Sango [sag].
Literacy rate in L2: Low in Lingala, women below 10%%.
Equateur Province, Nord Ubangi, Bosobolo Territory; some in Libenge Territory. Bili is center.
Information from: “Mono” . Kenneth S. Olson (2004)
"Mono speakers consider [the Bili variety] to be the most prestigious variety of the language."
"The orthography... was approved by the Mono volunteer language development committee in 1994."
"Mono is a Banda language spoken in the northwestern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is part of the larger Adamawa-Ubangi language family... [this article examines] the variety of the language spoken in Bili, Bosobolo Zone, DRC."
Information from: “Mono 2000-item digital wordlist: presentation form” . Mbanza, Ama Geangozo and Huttar, Lars and Kuntz, Judy and Liedtke, Marjorie and Olson, Kenneth S. and Olson, Roger E. and Schrag, Barbara and Schrag, Brian E. and Tembenekuzo, Kilio (2010) SIL International
"spoken [...] in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo"