Mono,^[2] also known asAlu, is anOceanic language spoken inthe Solomon Islands, belonging to theAustronesian language family. As of 1999, it was reportedly spoken by a total of 2,944 people: 660 speakers onTreasury Island (Mono proper), 2,270 onShortland Island (Alu dialect), and 14 onFauro Island.^[1]

The Mono-Alu language has been documented by Joel L. Fagan,^[3] a researcher in the Department of Linguistics at the Research School of Pacific Studies,Australian National University. His publicationA Grammatical Analysis of Mono-Alu (Bougainville Straits, Solomon Islands)^[4] is the first and, to date, the only translation and grammatical analysis of the Mono-Alu language.

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1. The Alu alphabet has 19 letters: A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, and V.^[5]
2. R was traditionally used more than D, but D is used more often inloanwords or in names that have been introduced into the language. It is also used to represent theallophonic variant [d] of the phoneme /ɾ/.^[6]
3. The letter V is used to represent the allophonic variant [v] of the phoneme /b/.
4. The letter H is sometimes replaced by F.
5. The length distinctions of vowels and nasals are not represented in the currentorthography.
6. Although not in the alphabet, the letters J and Z can be used to represent the marginalphonemes /d͡ʒ/ and /z/ respectively, which only occur in loanwords.

There are 13 phonemic consonants in Mono-Alu.

• /b/ can also be heard asfricatives [β, v] under certain conditions.
• /ɡ/ can be heard as [ɣ] infree variation.
• /ɾ/ can also be heard as [d] in free variation within word-initial position, or as [dɾ] when following a nasal.
• /u and i/ are heard as glides [w, j] within vowel environments.^[6][4]
• Other sounds /z/ and /d͡ʒ/ only occur in loanwords.^[6]

The Mono-Alu vowel system consists of five phonemicmonophthongs and three long vowels.

• /i/ has the allophone [iʲ] and occurs before other vowels (e.g. [sɐpɐiʲɐ] ‘tuber species’, [mɐniʲɔkɔ] ‘papaya’).
• /u/ can occur as [ʊ] in casual speech when the vowel is short, and does not occur in word-final open syllables. The allophone [uʷ] occurs before /i/ and /ɛ/ (e.g. [kuʷisɐ] ‘basket’, [suʷɛlɛ] ‘sleep’).
• /ɔ/ has the allophonic variant [ɔʷ] and it occurs in the exclamation [kɔʷɛ] and is the only instance where this allophone is attested. Elsewhere, it is pronounced as [ɔ].
• /ɐ/ and /ɛ/ do not have allophones.

The syllable structure can be either (C)V₁(V₂)(N) or (ʔ)N, where C can be any consonant (including nasals), V can be any vowel, and N can be either /n/ or /ŋ/. The sequence V₁V₂ represents a long vowel if both Vs are the same phoneme, or a diphthong if they are different. In the syllable pattern (ʔ)N, N is a nasalsyllabic nucleus (e.g. [ŋ̩.kɐ] ‘mother’, [ŋ̩.kɔ.tɔ] ‘take, hold’).

In both the coda and nucleic positions, N is always realized as velar [ŋ] before /k/, /g/ /ʔ/, and /h/.^[6]

The number system of Mono-Alu is very similar to otherAustronesian languages.^[7] For example, Mono-Alu shares the words for the numbers 'two' (elua) and 'five' (lima) with theHawaiian language. A word for 'zero' (menna) exists in the language and also holds the meaning of 'nothing.' Fagan identified the numbers from one to ten thousand in Mono-Alu.

^[4]

Mono-Alu also makes use of ordinal numbers. However, only 'first' (famma) is a unique word, and the rest are constructed through affixations.

^[4]

Mono-Alu, like many other Austronesian languages, uses two separatepronouns for the first-person plural to expressclusivity; that is, one first-person plural pronoun is inclusive (including the listener), and the other is exclusive (not including the listener). Mono-Alu does not have third-person pronouns. Fagan translated pronouns and their possessives.

Mono-Alu is very specific regarding adverbs and other verb affixes. Verbs can be altered with a prefix, infix, and suffix.

^[4]

There are two ways of indicating differences ofgrammatical gender:

1. By different words: - e.g.
   • Tiong 'man' –Betafa 'woman'
   • Fanua 'men' –Talaiva 'women'
   • Lalaafa 'headman' –Mamaefa 'head woman'
   • Tua-na 'his grandfather' –Tete-na 'his grandmother'
   • Kanega 'old man' (husband) –Magota 'old woman' (wife)
2. By using an ordinal indicative of sex: – e.g.
   • Kui manuale 'baby' (male) –Kui batafa 'baby' (female)
   • Boo sule 'boar' –Boo tuaru 'sow' (sule andtuaru are used for animals only)

In other cases, there is no distinction between masculine, feminine, and neuter.

Some exceptions within the rules of Mono-Alu have been discovered.^[8]

Two adverbs of place, instead of being written with a double consonant, are written with only one accented consonant.

• e.g.Nai (instead ofNNai) – 'here'
• 'Nao (instead ofNNao) – 'there'

Instead of theaspirateh, the letterf can be used:

1. in verbs preceded by the causativeha (orfa)
   • e.g.fasoku (orhasoku) – 'let come'
2. in verbs preceded by the prefixhan (orfan), meaning reciprocity or duality
   • e.g.fanua (orhanua) - 'mon'^[spelling?]
   • mafa (ormaha) - 'I, no'^[4]

There are no definitearticles in Alu. The numberelea ('one') is used as anindefinite article.^[4]

• Languages of the Solomon Islands
• Northwest Solomonic languages

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