Моно: история и язык коренных американцев Калифорнии.

People group
the native American people

The Mono ('/m//oʊ//n//oʊ/ MOHnoh) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. They are often grouped under the historical label "Paiute" together with the Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute – but these three groups, although related within the Numic group of Uto Aztecan languages, do not form a single, unique, unified group of Great Basin tribes. Today, many of the tribal citizens and descendants of the Mono tribe inhabit the town of North Fork (thus the label "Northfork Mono") in Madera County. People of the Mono tribe are also spread across California in: the Owens River Valley; the San Joaquin Valley and foothills areas, especially Fresno County; and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The current tribal name "Mono" is a Yokutsan loanword from the tribe's western neighbors, the Yokuts, who however hereby designated the Owens valley Paiutes as the southernmost Northern Paiute band living around "owens lake" / Mono Lake as monachie/monoache ("fly people") because fly larvae was their chief food staple and trading article and not the "Mono". This "Kucadikadi Northern Paiute Band", whose autonym Kutsavidökadö/Kutzadika'a means "eaters of the brine fly pupae", are also known as Mono Lake Paiute or Owens Valley Paiute, a holdover from early anthropological literature, and are often confused with the non Northern Paiute ethnic group of the Western mono "Mono". The "Eastern Mono" referred to themselves as Numa/Nuumu or Nüümü ("People") in their Mono/Bannock language dialect and to their kin to the west as Panan witü / Pana witü ("western place" People); the "Western Mono" called themselves Nyyhmy/Nimi or Nim/Nium ("People"); a full blooded "Western Mono" person was called cawu h nyyhmy.

The Eastern Mono speak the mono Bannock mono language which together with the Northern Paiute language (a dialect continuum) forms the Western Numic branch of the Uto Aztecan language family. Due to the geographical separation as well as the interaction with neighboring tribes and peoples (incorporation of loanwords and/or frequent Bilingualism) two very different dialects developed in the course of time which are difficult to understand for each other. The native language of the Mono people is referred to as "Nim." Mun a hoo e boso. Mun a hoo e num. Mun a hoo to e hun noh pa teh can be translated as "Hello to my friends. Hello to the Mono people. Hello to the people from all over." Today, the "Mono language (Nim)" (including its two dialects) is critically endangered. Among about 1,300 "Western Mono (Mono or Monache) people", only about 20 active speakers and 100 half speakers speak "Western Mono" or the "Monachi/Monache" dialect (better known as: "Mono/Monache" or "Mono Lake Paiute"). Of the 1,000 "Owens Valley Paiute (Eastern Mono) people" there are only 30 active speakers of the "Eastern Mono" or "Owens Valley Northern Paiute" dialect left.

Estimates for the pre contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) suggested that the 1770 population of the Mono was 4,000. Sherburne F. Cook (1976:192) set the population of the Western Mono alone at about 1,800. Kroeber reported the population of the Mono in 1910 as 1,500. Today, there are approximately 2,300 enrolled Mono people. The Cold Springs Mono have 275 tribal members. The Northfork Mono's enrollment is 1,800, making them one of California's largest native tribes. The Big Sandy Mono have about 495 members. The Big Pine Band has 462 tribal members, but it is difficult to determine how many of these are Mono.