Serer, often broken into differing regional dialects such as Serer-Sine and Serer saloum, is a language of the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo family spoken by 1.2 million people in Senegal and 30,000 in the Gambia as of 2009.^[2] It is the principal language of the Serer people, and was the language of the early modern kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and Baol.

Classification

Serer is one of the Senegambian languages, which are characterized by consonant mutation. The traditional classification of Atlantic languages is that of Sapir (1971), which found that Serer was closest to Fulani.^[3] However, a widely cited misreading of the data by Wilson (1989) inadvertently exchanged Serer for Wolof. Dialects of Serer are Serer Sine (the prestige dialect), Segum, Fadyut-Palmerin, Dyegueme (Gyegem), and Niominka. They are mutually intelligible except for the Sereer spoken in some of the areas surrounding the city of Thiès.

Not all Serer people speak Serer. About 200,000 speak Cangin languages. Because the speakers are ethnically Serer, they are commonly thought to be Serer dialects. However, they are not closely related, and Serer is significantly closer to Fulani (also called Pulbe, Pulaar, or Fulbe) than it is to Cangin.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

Consonants

The voiceless implosives are highly unusual sounds.^[4]

Vowels

Writing system

Serer today is primarily written in Latin alphabet . The Latin alphabet has been standardized in various government decrees, the latest of which was issued in 2005.^[5]

However, historically, similar to Wolof language, its first writing system was the adaption of the Arabic Script. The Arabic script is used today as well, albeit in a smaller scale, and only mostly limited to Islamic school teachers and students. The Arabic-based script of Serer was set by the government as well, between 1985 and 1990, although never adopted by a decree, as the effort by the Senegalese ministry of education was to be part of a multi-national standardization effort.^[6] The script is referred to as "Serer Ajami script" (In Serer: ajami seereer, اَجَمِ سࣹيرࣹيرْ‎).

Serer Latin alphabet

Serer Ajami script

There are 29 letters in Serer Ajami script. The list does not include consonants that are used exclusively in Arabic loanwords and do not occur in Serer words, nor does it include digraphs used for showing prenasalized consonants.^[7]

Prenasalized consonants are written as a digraph (combination of two consonants). While historically, there were single letter alternatives, these letters are no longer used. Prenasalized consonants are constructed using meem (م) or noon (ن) in combination with other consonants. The letter meem (م) appears in pairs with beh (ب), whereas the letter noon (ن) appears in pairs with dal (د), jeem (ج), qaf (ق), and geh (گ).

Prenasalized consonants cannot take the zero-vowel diacritic sukun (◌ْ). If they are at the end of the word and have no vowels, they will take the gemination diacritic shadda (◌ّ).

In prenasalized consonants, the first letter of the digraph, namely either meem (م) or noon (ن), is written with no diacritic. This is what distinguishes them from consonant sequences.

Some Serer-speaking authors treat these digraphs as their own independent letters.

Serer Ajami script, like its parent system, the Arabic script, and like other Ajami scripts, is an abjad. This means that only consonants are represented with letters. Vowels are shown with diacritics. As a matter of fact, writing of diacritics, including zero-vowel (sukun) diacritic as per the orthographic are mandatory.

Arabic has 3 vowels, and thus 3 vowel diacritics. But in Serer, there are 5 vowels, and as all vowels are shown with diacritics in Serer. This means that on top of the 3 original diacritics, 2 additional ones have been created.

Vowels in Wolof are also distinguished by length, short and long. Short vowels are only shown with a diacritic. Similar to Arabic, long vowels are indicated by writing alif (ا), waw (و), or yeh (ي). But unlike Arabic, this does not mean that the vowel diacritic can be dropped. It cannot, as there 5 vowels and not 3.^[7]

• For vowel "a" (◌َ), the vowel is lengthened (aa) with an alif (ا)
• For vowels "e" or "i", the vowel is lengthened (ee, ii) with a yeh (ي).
• For vowels "o" or "u", the vowel is lengthened (oo, uu) with a waw (و).

When vowels appear at the beginning of the word, an alif (ا) is used as the carrier of the vowel. If a long vowel is at the beginning of the word, an alif, an alif (ا) is used as the carrier of the vowel, followed by either waw (و) or yeh (ي) as appropriate. The exception is when a word starts with the long vowel "Aa". Instead of two alifs (اا) being used, an alif-maddah (آ) is used.^[7]

Greetings

The following greetings and responses are spoken in most regions of Senegal that have Serer speakers.

• Nam fi'o? ('how are you doing?')
• Mexe meen ('I am here')
• Ta mbind na? ('how is the family' or more literally 'how is the house?')
• Awa maa ('they are good' or more literally 'they are there')

Spatial awareness is very important in Sereer. For example, this exchange is only for when the household in question is not nearby. Certain grammatical changes would occur if the greetings were exchanged in a home that the greeter has just entered:

• Ta mbind ne? ('how is the family/house [which is here]?')
• Awa meen ('they are good' or more literally 'they are here')

In Senegalese Sereer culture like many cultures in that region, greetings are very important. Sometimes, people will spend several minutes greeting each other.

Sample Text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights