The Languages of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

include

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

– the language of the indigenous population – and those of immigrants and their descendants. Polish is the only official language recognized by the country's constitution and the majority of the country's population speak it as a native language or use it for home communication. Deaf communities in Poland use

Polish Sign Language Polish Sign Language ("Polski Język Migowy", PJM) is the language of the Deaf community in Poland. Polish Sign Language uses a one-handed manual alphabet of Old French Sign Language and therefore appears to be related to French Sign Language. I ...

, which belongs to the German family of Sign Languages. Languages other than Polish that have existed in the region for at least 100 years can gain recognition as a regional or minority language, which have appropriate rules of use. In areas where the speakers of these languages make up more than 20% of the population, the language can receive the status of auxiliary language, while Polish remains the official language. According to the ''Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages'', 16 languages have been recognized as minority languages; 1 regional language, 10 languages belonging to 9 national minorities (minorities from another sovereign state) and 5 languages belonging to 4 ethnic minorities (minorities that do not belong to another sovereign state). Jewish and Romani minorities each have 2 recognized minority languages.

Household languages

Language used in households by population as of 2011. *

(37,815,606) * Silesian (529,377) * Kashubian (108,140) *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(103,541) *

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

(96,461) * Belarusian (26,448) *

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

(24,539) *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(19,805) * Romany (14,468) * French (10,677) *

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(10,295) * Rusyn (6,279) *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

(5,770) * Lithuanian (5,303) *

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

(3,360) * Other languages (31,800) * Unspecified (519,698) * Total (38,511,824)

National minority's languages

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

* Belarusian *

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

* Lithuanian *

* Slovak *

Ethnic minority's languages

* Karaim * Rusyn, called Lemko in Poland (Polish: "Łemkowski", see

Lemko Lemkos ( rue, Лeмкы, translit= Lemkŷ; pl, Łemkowie; uk, Лемки, translit=Lemky) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region ( rue, Лемковина, translit=Lemkovyna; uk, Лемківщина, translit=Lemkivshchyna) of C ...

) *Two

Romani languages Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to ''Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their o ...

are officially recognised: Polska Roma and Bergitka Roma. *

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, called Tartar by the act. Official recognition gives the representatives of the minority under certain conditions the right to education in their language, having their language established as a secondary administrative language or help language in their

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, financial support in the promotion of their language and culture, etc.

Regional languages

* Kashubian

Auxiliary languages

The bilingual status of gminas (municipalities) in

is regulated by the ''Act of 6 January 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on the Regional Languages'', which permits certain gminas with significant linguistic minorities to introduce a second, auxiliary language to be used in official contexts alongside

. The following is a list of languages by the number of gminas that have them as auxiliary languages. * Kashubian (5) * Lithuanian (1) *

(33) * Belarusian (5)

Languages of bilingual settlements

A settlement can use any officially recognised, regional, or minority languages in their name. Currently only 5 settlements have exercised this power. The following is a list of languages by their use in settlements dual language names. * Belarusian (27) *

(359) * Kashubian (827) * Lithuanian (30) * Rusyn (9)

Languages of diasporas and immigrants

These languages are not recognised as minority languages, as the Act of 2005 defines minority as "a group of Polish citizens (...) striving to preserve its language, culture or tradition, (...) whose ancestors have been living on the present territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 100 years": *

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: the language of the Greek diaspora in Poland of 1950s. *

: the language of the biggest immigrant community in Poland since the 1960s, having their own newspapers, schools, churches etc.

Sign languages

The

is the language of the

deaf community Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

. It descends from

German Sign Language German Sign Language or Deutsche Gebärdensprache (DGS), is the sign language of the deaf community in Germany, Luxembourg and in the German-speaking community of Belgium. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Ga ...

. Its lexicon and

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

are distinct from the

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

, although there is a

manually coded Manually coded languages (MCLs) are a family of gestural communication methods which include gestural spelling as well as constructed languages which directly interpolate the grammar and syntax of oral languages in a gestural-visual form—that ...

version of Polish known as '' System Językowo-Migowy'' (SJM, or Signed Polish), which is often used by interpreters on television and by teachers in schools. In 2012, under the "Sign Language Act", the language received official status and can be chosen as the language of instruction by those who require it.

Unrecognised regional languages

*It is disputed whether Silesian is either one of the four major dialects of

or a separate language, distinct from Polish. Ethnologue distinguishes the ''Silesian'' language from the ''Upper Silesian'' dialect of Polish language. There are efforts by some Silesian groups advocating for legal recognition to be granted (similar to that of Kashubian) and the topic is considered a political issue. * Wymysorys is an

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...

with very few speakers. It is native to

Wilamowice Wilamowice (earlier ''Willamowice'', german: Wilmesau, Wymysorys: ''Wymysoü'') is a rural town in southern Poland, situated in the Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town is inhabited by a Germanic ethnic group of Vilamovians, who spea ...

, but, unlike the similarly endangered Karaim language, it was practically unknown during the preparation of the aforementioned Act.

Dead and artificial languages

Among languages used in Poland, Ethnologue mentions one

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction ...

– the International Auxiliary Language Esperanto (created in Poland), and one

dead language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, l ...

–

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

, but does not mention two other known defunct languages: Slovincian, which consists of dialects of Pomeranian, died out in the beginning of the 20th century, and is closely related to Kashubian, and Yatvingian, which died around the mid-16th (or possibly end of 19th) century. As the result of the Nazi's atrocities and the ensuing border shift at Germany's expense and ethnic cleansing, various dialects of German historically prevalent in Poland's western and northwestern regions have become endangered, such as Lower Silesian and Low German.

Foreign languages

Eurobarometer Eurobarometer is a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission and other EU Institutions since 1973. These surveys address a wide variety of topical issues relating to the European Union throughout i ...

studies in 2012 showed that 33%, 19%, and 18% of Poles declared to be able to have a conversation in

, and

, respectively. As of 2015, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

according to the Centre for Public Opinion Research. However, other surveys show that over 50% of Poles can speak English. Another study shows that 89% of Polish students are learning and/or can speak English.

References

External links

jezyki-mniejszosci.pl
- website of the Polish government regarding minority languages
all the acts, dispositions and bylaws related to the issue of minorities and their languagesPolish text of the Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages from ISAP Policy on Minority and Regional Languages in Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland languages Polish culture Polish language