Saafi: A Grammatical Sketch

Abstract

Saafi is a Niger-Congo language spoken in Senegal. It is an Atlantic language of a subset of Northern languages. It is in the group of Cangin languages and is closely related to Wolof, Noon, and several other languages. A simple internet search will show that there is currently little to no documentation on this language that is spoken by some 200,000 people. This grammatical sketch is compiled from data elicited from Adrien Pouille, a consultant. Adrien is a thirty-three year old male who was born in Thies, Senegal. He learned to speak Saafi at the age of six. His family communicates primarily in Wolof, but his paternal relatives are Saafi. Adrien also speaks English and French fluently. Adrien lived with his family near the city of Thies until coming to the U.S. in 2004. The methodology I have adopted is primarily direct elicitation in individual sessions with the consultant. I have also used aids such as photos to elicit data in a more natural setting. The consultant has also translated several passages and provided some of his own in the elicitation sessions.