Mono language (California)

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. The Big Sandy Rancheria and Dunlap have from 12 to 14 speakers.^[1] 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."^[5] In the late 1950s, Lamb compiled a dictionary and grammar of Northfork Mono.^[6] The Western Mono language has a number of Spanish loanwords dating to the period of Spanish colonization of the Californias,^[7] as well as loanwords from Yokuts and Miwok.^[8][9]

In the mid-1990s, an estimated 50 people spoke the Owens Valley Paiute language, also known as Eastern Mono.^[1] Informal language classes exist and singers keep native language songs alive.^[5] Linguist Sydney Lamb studied this language in the 1950s and proposed the name Paviotso, but that was not widely adopted.^{[10] [11]}

• Vowel length is also evenly distributed among the dialects.

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

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

Lamb (1958) also described four suprasegmental features that he ascribed phonemic status.

Mono is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.

• Mono traditional narratives

• Bethel, Rosalie; Kroskrity, Paul V.; Loether, Christopher; Reinhardt, Gregory A. (1993). A Dictionary of Western Mono. Los Angeles: American Indian Studies Center, University of California.
• Lamb, Sydney M. Monachi dictionary (PDF). Ms., Survey of California and Other Indian Languages. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
• Norris, Evan J. (1986). A Grammar Sketch and Comparative Study of Eastern Mono (PhD dissertation). University of California, San Diego.

• Onishi, Norimitsu (17 June 2012). "With Casino Revenues, Tribes Push to Preserve Languages, and Cultures". The New York Times. p. 14.
• McCarthy, Charles (2007-10-14). "Learning an almost lost language; The few Mono Indians remaining who speak their tongue are passing it down to children to preserve culture". The Fresno Bee. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
• May, James (2003-07-11). "Defying the Silence, Part 2: A Race Against Time". Indian Country Today. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2012-07-09.

• "Mono Language and the Mono Indian Tribe (Monache, Monachi)". Retrieved 2012-07-09.
• Mono language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• Nuumu Yadoha Language Program: Lessons 1 thru 8 CD, Quick Pronunciation Guide: Lessons 9-16 CD, April 2002, retrieved 2012-07-09
• OLAC resources in and about the Mono language