TheCangin (/ˈtʃæŋɪn/) languages are spoken by 200,000 people (as of 2007) in a small area east ofDakar,Senegal. They are the languages spoken by theSerer people who do not speak theSerer language (Serer-Sine). Because the people are ethnically Serer, the Cangin languages are commonly thought to be dialects of the Serer language. However, they are not closely related; Serer is closer toFulani than it is to Cangin.
Safen, orSaafi-Saafi, the language of theSaafi people. Spoken inland from the Petite Côte, an area southeast of Dakar. The largest Cangin language, with over 100,000 speakers and growing (2007).
Lehar (Laalaa), the language of theSerer-Laalaa (or Serer-Lehar), spoken in a small area north ofThiès.
Lehar and Noon are particularly close, as are Ndut and Palor, though not quite to the point of easy intelligibility. Safen is transparently closer to Lehar–Noon than to Palor–Ndut.
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
