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.
They are mutually intelligible except for the Sereer spoken in some of the areas surrounding the city of Thiès.
However, they are not closely related, and Serer is significantly closer to Fulani (also called Pulbe, Pulaar, or Fulbe) than it is to Cangin.
[5] However, historically, similar to Wolof language, its first writing system was the adaption of the Arabic Script.
[dubious – discuss] The Arabic script is used today as well, albeit in a smaller scale, and only mostly limited to Islamic school teachers and students.
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).
In prenasalized consonants, the first letter of the digraph, namely either meem (م) or noon (ن), is written with no diacritic.
Similar to Arabic, long vowels are indicated by writing alif (ا), waw (و), or yeh (ي).
[7] The following greetings and responses are spoken in most regions of Senegal that have Serer speakers.