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.
| 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 |
Orthography
editThe 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
edit- ^ 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
edit- (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
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