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associated with the secondary articulations. Thus, we cannot confidently posit a CVV
pattern for Mono. In addition, phonetic reasons discourage us from following this
solution for Mono: the fact that the secondary articulations are phonetically short and do
not bear tone dissuades us from giving them a vocalic interpretation.
A fourth solution is suggested by Robbins (1984) for the Banda language
Mbandja. She suggests that labialization and palatalization (as well as pre-nasalization)
should be considered prosodies, in the Firthian sense of the word, presumably as features
of the syllable (but unfortunately she doesn’t clarify this). Firthian prosodic analysis
allows for an element to be considered prosodic, even if it fills only a single segmental
slot, if it can be demonstrated that the element functions in some way on a higher
prosodic level (Robins 1970). However, in Mono, I have found no evidence to
demonstrate conclusively that labialization or palatalization function at a higher prosodic
level.
A fifth solution is put forth by Olson & Schrag (1997). They posit an additional
syllable pattern CGV (G = glide) for Mono. This type of analysis was first suggested by
Pike (1947) 2 and reiterated in Bendor-Samuel (1962). Olson & Schrag motivate the
solution by virtue of the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP, see e.g. Blevins 1995),
which observes that onsets rise in sonority as one approaches the nucleus, and codas fall
in sonority as one moves away from the nucleus.
The most common syllable pattern in African languages is a consonant followed
by a vowel (CV). In addition, many African languages have CGV syllable or CLV (L =
liquid) patterns. In these cases, a co-occurrence restriction typically requires the initial
2 “If only two types of sequences of consonants occur at the beginning of utterances, and one of
these consists of labialized stops and the other of palatalized stops in each of which the off glide to [w] and
[y] is quite clearly delayed until after the release of the stop itself, it seems best to consider that the
contrasting pattern causes a separation of these items into sequences of two separate phonemes.” (p. 135)
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