Safen language
| Safene | |
|---|---|
| Saafi-Saafi | |
| Native to | Senegal |
| Ethnicity | Saafi people |
Native speakers | 200,000 (2012)[1] |
| Latin, Arabic[1] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sav |
| Glottolog | saaf1238 |
| Person | Saafi |
|---|---|
| People | Saafici |
| Language | Saafi-Saafi |
| Country | Safene |
Safene (Saafen), Safi[2] or Saafi-Saafi, is the principal Cangin language, spoken by 200,000 people in Senegal. Speakers are heavily concentrated in the area surrounding Dakar, particularly in the Thiès Region.
Orthography
The Safen language is written in either the Arabic or the Latin script.[1] The official orthography uses a Latin alphabet with 23 consonants and 5 vowels.[3]
| Alphabet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | Ɓ | C | D | Ɗ | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | Ñ | Ŋ | O | P | R | S | T | U | W | Y | Ƴ | ’ | |||||
| a | b | ɓ | c | d | ɗ | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | ñ | ŋ | o | p | r | s | t | u | w | y | ƴ | ’ | |||||
Notes
- ^ a b c Safene at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
- ^ "Décret n° 2005-989 du 21 octobre 2005" [Decree 2005-989 of 21 October 2005]. Journal officiel de la République du Sénégal (in French). Dakar. May 27, 2006.
Bibliography
- (in English) Walter Pichl, The Cangin Group - A Language Group in Northern Senegal, Pittsburgh, PA : Institute of African Affairs, Duquesne University, Coll. African Reprint Series, 1966, vol. 20
- (in French) Chérif Mbodj, Recherches sur la phonologie et la morphologie de la langue saafi. Le parler de Boukhou, Université de Nice, 1984