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structural properties of these categories. However, I will not discuss distributional (i.e.
syntactic) arguments for the existence of the various grammatical classes. My primary
purpose in examining the morphology of Mono is to inform the phonology, and for this
purpose the structural properties of the grammatical classes are more fruitful than the
distributional properties. For those interested, a treatment of the syntax of Mono can be
found in Kamanda (1998). In addition, Cloarec-Heiss’s (1986) analysis of the related
language Linda is also beneficial for understanding the structure of Mono syntax.
7.1.1 Nominal morphology
Animate vs. inanimate nouns. One of the prototypical characteristics of Niger-
Congo languages is a robust noun class system, such as the one found in Bantu. In the
Ubangian languages, however, the only subgroup that shows a clear relationship to the
Niger-Congo noun class system is Mba. The rest of Ubangian has what Greenberg (1970:
12) calls “uncertain survivals of the Niger-Congo system of affixes.” The evidence for
this is so weak, however, that Boyd (1989: 205) has stated that “there is little evidence of
the prior existence of noun class systems” in Ubangian. As we will see, the one noun
class found in Mono appears to have its source in a more general process and is likely not
traceable to the Niger-Congo noun class system.
Nouns in Mono may be classified into two subgroups, based on whether or not
they accept the plural prefix =- ‘PL’. Nouns which accept the plural prefix include those
which refer to animals and those which represent people, including kinship terms. I refer
to this category as animate nouns. Examples are given in (2). If the noun is monosyllabic
underlyingly (either /CV/ or /CLV/, see discussion in Section 6.1), =- is prefixed to the
root (2d-e). Since the resulting form satisfies the word minimality condition, subminimal
root augmentation does not apply (whereas in the singular it does). Some proper names
take the plural prefix as well (2f-g).
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