The Languages of Poland include Polish – 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, 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. * Polish (37,815,606) *

Silesian Silesian as an adjective can mean anything from or related to Silesia. As a noun, it refers to an article, item, or person of or from Silesia. Silesian may also refer to: People and languages * Silesians, inhabitants of Silesia, either a West S ...

(529,377) *

Kashubian Kashubian can refer to: * Pertaining to Kashubia, a region of north-central Poland * Kashubians, an ethnic group of north-central Poland * Kashubian language See also *Kashubian alphabet The Kashubian or Cassubian alphabet (''kaszëbsczi alf ...

(108,140) * English (103,541) * German (96,461) *

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

(26,448) * Ukrainian (24,539) * Russian (19,805) * Romany (14,468) *

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(10,677) * Italian (10,295) *

Rusyn Rusyn may refer to: * Rusyns, Rusyn people, an East Slavic people ** Pannonian Rusyns, Pannonian Rusyn people, a branch of Rusyn people ** Lemkos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people ** Boykos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people * Rusyn l ...

(6,279) * Spanish (5,770) *

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

(5,303) * Vietnamese (3,360) * Other languages (31,800) * Unspecified (519,698) * Total (38,511,824)

National minority's languages

* Armenian *

* Czech * German *

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 ver ...

* Hebrew *

* Russian * Slovak * Ukrainian

Ethnic minority's languages

Karaim Karaite or Qaraite may refer to: *Karaite Judaism, a Jewish religious movement that rejects the Talmud ** Crimean Karaites, an ethnic group derived from Turkic-speaking adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe *** Karaim language, Turkic l ...

, called Lemko in Poland (Polish: "Łemkowski", see Lemko) *Two Romani languages are officially recognised:

Polska Roma Polska Roma are the largest and one of the oldest ethnolinguistic sub group of Romani people living in Poland. Some Polska Roma also live in North America, Switzerland, Sweden, Great Britain and countries of the European Union. The term "Polsk ...

and

Bergitka Roma Bergitka Roma or Carpathian Roma (also ''"Goral Gypsies"'' in some works) are a Roma ethnic sub-group, living mostly in Poland in the Goral Lands.They were one of the first, if not the first, group of Roma to migrate to Poland, mostly from the ...

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

Regional languages

Auxiliary languages

The bilingual status of gminas (municipalities) in Poland 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 Polish. The following is a list of languages by the number of gminas that have them as auxiliary languages. *

(5) *

(1) * German (33) *

(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. *

(27) * German (359) *

(827) *

(30) *

(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: the language of the Greek diaspora in Poland of 1950s. * Vietnamese: the language of the biggest immigrant community in Poland since the 1960s, having their own newspapers, schools, churches etc.

Sign languages

The Polish Sign Language is the language of the deaf community in Poland. It descends from German Sign Language. Its

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

and grammar are distinct from the Polish language, although there is a manually coded 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

is either one of the four major dialects of Polish or a separate language, distinct from Polish.

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

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 Wymysorys (, or ), also known as Vilamovian or Wilamowicean, is a West Germanic language spoken by the ethnic Vilamovian minority in the small town of Wilamowice, Poland ( in Wymysorys, ), on the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland, near ...

is an endangered language with very few speakers. It is native to Wilamowice, but, unlike the similarly endangered

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 – the International Auxiliary Language

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

(created in Poland), and one dead language – Prussian, but does not mention two other known defunct languages:

Slovincian Slovincian may refer to: * Slovincian language * Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivodes ...

, 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 Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

, various dialects of German historically prevalent in Poland's western and northwestern regions have become endangered, such as Lower Silesian and

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

Foreign languages

Eurobarometer studies in 2012 showed that 33%, 19%, and 18% of Poles declared to be able to have a conversation in English, German, and Russian, respectively. As of 2015, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language 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