Safen language

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.

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Safene
Saafi-Saafi
Native to	Senegal
Ethnicity	Saafi people
Native speakers	200,000 (2012)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Cangin Safene
Writing system	Latin, Arabic[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sav
Glottolog	saaf1238

Person	Saafi
People	Saafici
Language	Saafi-Saafi
Country	Safene

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

1. Safene at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
3. "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