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River at the end of the 17th century and the Mbandja crossing at the end of the 18th
century. He also places the crossing of the Mono, Gobu and Togbo groups at the end of
the 17th century due to a Mbandja legend that they encountered Gobu speakers when
they crossed, but the similarity of these languages to the other Central Core languages to
the north would indicate that their crossing was probably much later, perhaps in the latter
half of the 19th century.
Before we leave the topic of Mono history, I mention two residual items. First,
Cordell (p. 56) points out that the Banda people acquired a poison oracle from the
Azande, so there was likely contact between the two groups during the Azande expansion
of 1750-1900. Second, Tisserant (p. 12) mentions that there was interbreeding between
Mono and “a Sara group” about 120 years ago, but he doesn’t elaborate this claim.
1.4 The sociolinguistic situation
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 (Bantu C), the trade language in the northern and western parts of the D.
R. Congo, is understood by many people, particularly those who have traveled in the
region or received education elsewhere. 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.
However, the Mono speakers are not homogenous with respect to fluency in
Lingala. For example, male speakers have a higher level of proficiency in Lingala than
female speakers. In addition, geographic location is a factor. Along major roads and in
commercial centers, the level of Lingala is elevated, whereas in remote villages, the level
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