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 addition to being the
official language of Poland, it is also used by the
Polish diaspora
The Polish diaspora comprises Poles and people of Polish heritage or origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish as ''Polonia'', the name for Poland in Latin and many Romance languages.
There are roughly 20, ...
. There are over 50 million
Polish speakers around the world. It ranks as the sixth most-spoken among
languages of the European Union
The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which threeEnglish, French and Germanhave the higher status of "procedural" languages of the European Commission (whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working l ...
. Polish is subdivided into regional
dialects
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
and maintains strict
T–V distinction
The T–V distinction is the contextual use of different pronouns that exists in some languages and serves to convey formality or familiarity. Its name comes from the Latin pronouns '' tu'' and '' vos''. The distinction takes a number of forms ...
pronouns,
honorifics, and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals.
The traditional 32-letter
Polish alphabet
The Polish alphabet ( Polish: ''alfabet polski'', ''abecadło'') is the script of the Polish language, the basis for the Polish system of orthography. It is based on the Latin alphabet but includes certain letters with diacritics: the ''kreska ...
has nine additions (''ą'', ''ć'', ''ę'', ''ł'', ''ń'', ''ó'', ''ś'', ''ź'', ''ż'') to the letters of the basic 26-letter
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...
, while removing three (x, q, v). Those three letters are at times included in an extended 35-letter alphabet, although they are not used in native words.
The traditional set comprises 23
consonants
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
and 9 written
vowels
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
, including two
nasal vowels
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced witho ...
(''ę'', ''ą'') defined by a reversed diacritic hook called an ''ogonek''. Polish is a Fusional language, synthetic and fusional language which has seven
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomin ...
s. It is one of very few languages in the world possessing continuous
penultimate stress (with only a few exceptions) and the only in its group having an abundance of
palatal consonants
Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex.
Characteristic ...
. Contemporary Polish developed in the 1700s as the successor to the medieval
Old Polish
The Old Polish language ( pl, język staropolski, staropolszczyzna) was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language.
The sources for the study of the Ol ...
(10th–16th centuries) and
Middle Polish
Middle Polish ( pl, język średniopolski) is the period in the history of the Polish language between the 16th and 18th centuries. It evolved from Old Polish, and gave rise to Modern Polish.
In 16th century, Polish poet Jan Kochanowski
J ...
(16th–18th centuries).
Among the major languages, it is most closely related to
Slovak and
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, ...
but differs in terms of pronunciation and general grammar. In addition, Polish was profoundly influenced by
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and other
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
like
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 ...
and
French as well as
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...
(most notably
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 ...
), which contributed to a large number of loanwords and similar grammatical structures. Extensive usage of
nonstandard dialects has also shaped the
standard language; considerable
colloquialisms and expressions were directly borrowed from German or
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 ...
and subsequently adopted into the
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
of Polish which is in everyday use.
Historically, Polish was a ''
lingua franca'', important both diplomatically and academically in
Central and part of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
. Today, Polish is spoken by approximately 38 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a
second language
A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
in eastern
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, northern
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, western parts of
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
as well as in southeast
Lithuania and
Latvia. Because of the emigration from Poland during different time periods, most notably after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, millions of Polish speakers can also be found in countries such as
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
Australia, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
History
Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state.
Mieszko I, ruler of the Polans tribe from the
Greater Poland region, united a few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the
Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
and
Oder before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...
, which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a
spoken language
A spoken language is a language produced by articulate sounds or (depending on one's definition) manual gestures, as opposed to a written language. An oral language or vocal language is a language produced with the vocal tract in contrast with a si ...
.
![Book of Henryków](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Book_of_Henryk%C3%B3w.PNG)
The precursor to modern Polish is the
Old Polish language
The Old Polish language ( pl, język staropolski, staropolszczyzna) was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language.
The sources for the study of the Ol ...
. Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
language. Polish was a ''
lingua franca'' from 1500 to 1700 in
Central and parts of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
, because of the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the former
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
.
The
Book of Henryków (Polish: , la, Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichau), contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language: ''Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai'' (in modern orthography: ''Daj, uć ja pobrusza, a ti pocziwaj''; the corresponding sentence in modern Polish: ''Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj'' or ''Pozwól, że ja będę mełł, a ty odpocznij''; and in English: ''Come, let me grind, and you take a rest''), written around 1270.
The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of the Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish").
Geographic distribution
Poland is one of the most linguistically
homogeneous European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. Elsewhere,
Poles constitute large minorities in areas which were once administered or occupied by Poland, notably in neighboring
Lithuania,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. Polish is the most widely-used minority language in Lithuania's
Vilnius County
Vilnius County ( lt, Vilniaus apskritis) is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Vilnius County re ...
, by 26% of the population, according to the 2001 census results, as
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
was part of Poland from 1922 until 1939. Polish is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. In Ukraine, it is most common in the western parts of
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
and
Volyn Oblast
Volyn Oblast ( uk, Воли́нська о́бласть, translit=Volýnsʹka óblastʹ; also referred to as Volyn or Lodomeria) is an oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is Lutsk. Kovel is the westernmost town ...
s, while in
West Belarus
Western Belorussia or Western Belarus ( be, Заходняя Беларусь, translit=Zachodniaja Bielaruś; pl, Zachodnia Białoruś; russian: Западная Белоруссия, translit=Zapadnaya Belorussiya) is a historical region of mod ...
it is used by the significant Polish minority, especially in the
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
and
Grodno regions and in areas along the Lithuanian border. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries.
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. According to the
2000 United States Census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
, 667,414 Americans of age five years and over reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than
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 ...
, 0.25% of the US population, and 6% of the Polish-American population. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census (over 50%) were found in three states:
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
(185,749), (111,740), and
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
(74,663). Enough people in these areas speak Polish that
PNC Financial Services (which has a large number of branches in all of these areas) offers services available in Polish at all of their
cash machine
An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...
s in addition to
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
who consider Polish to be their "main" language. In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, there is a significant
Polish Canadian population: There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
(91,810 speakers) and
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
.
The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the
territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II and
Polish population transfers (1944–46)
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
. Poles settled in the "
Recovered Territories
The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands ( pl, Ziemie Odzyskane), also known as Western Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Zachodnie), and previously as Western and Northern Territories ( pl, Ziemie Zachodnie i Północne), Postulated Territories ( pl, Z ...
" in the west and north, which had previously been mostly
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 ...
-speaking. Some Poles remained in the previously Polish-ruled territories in the east that were annexed by the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled or emigrated from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. To the east of Poland, the most significant Polish minority lives in a long, narrow strip along either side of the
Lithuania-
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
border. Meanwhile, the
flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50), as well as the
expulsion of Ukrainians and
Operation Vistula
Operation Vistula ( pl, Akcja Wisła; uk, Опера́ція «Ві́сла») was a codename for the 1947 forced resettlement of 150,000 Ukrainians (Boykos and Lemkos) from the south-eastern provinces of post-war Poland, to the Recovered Te ...
, the 1947 forced resettlement of Ukrainian minorities to the Recovered Territories in the west of the country, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity.
Dialects
![Polish-alphabet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Polish-alphabet.png)
The inhabitants of different regions of Poland speak Polish somewhat differently, although the differences between modern-day
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
varieties and standard Polish () appear relatively slight. Most of the middle aged and young speak vernaculars close to standard Polish, while the traditional dialects are preserved among older people in rural areas.
First-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty recognizing the regional and
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
differences. The modern
standard dialect
A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...
, often termed as "correct Polish",
[ is spoken or at least understood throughout the entire country.]
Polish has traditionally been described as consisting of four or five main regional dialects:
* Greater Polish, spoken in the west
* Lesser Polish, spoken in the south and southeast
* Masovian, spoken throughout the central and eastern parts of the country
* Silesian, spoken in the southwest (also considered a separate language, see comment below)
Kashubian, spoken in Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
west of Gdańsk on the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
, is thought of either as a fifth Polish dialect or a distinct language, depending on the criteria used. It contains a number of features not found elsewhere in Poland, e.g. nine distinct oral vowels (vs. the five of standard Polish) and (in the northern dialects) phonemic word stress, an archaic feature preserved from Common Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
times and not found anywhere else among the West Slavic languages
The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group. They include Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. The languages have traditionally been spoken across a mostly continuous region encom ...
. However, it "lacks most of the linguistic and social determinants of language-hood".
Many linguistic sources categorize Silesian as a dialect of Polish. However, many Silesians consider themselves a separate ethnicity and have been advocating for the recognition of a Silesian language. According to the last official census in Poland in 2011, over half a million people declared Silesian as their native language. Many sociolinguists (e.g. Tomasz Kamusella
Tomasz Kamusella FRHistS (born 24 December 1967) is a Polish scholar pursuing interdisciplinary research in language politics, nationalism and ethnicity.
Education
Kamusella was educated at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of P ...
, Agnieszka Pianka, Alfred F. Majewicz, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz
Tomasz Wicherkiewicz (born 1967) is a Polish linguist who is Professor of Linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, ...
) assume that extralinguistic criteria decide whether a lect is an independent language or a dialect: speakers of the speech variety or/and political decisions, and this is dynamic (i.e. it changes over time). Also, research organizations such as SIL International and resources for the academic field of linguistics such as Ethnologue, Linguist List
The LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of linguistics. It was founded by Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation in the Unit ...
and others, for example the Ministry of Administration and Digitization recognized the Silesian language. In July 2007, the Silesian language was recognized by ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
, and was attributed an ISO code of szl.
Some additional characteristic but less widespread regional dialects include:
# The distinctive dialect of the Gorals
The Gorals ( pl, Górale; Goral dialect: ''Górole''; sk, Gorali; Cieszyn Silesia dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders) are an indigenous ethnographic or ethnic group primar ...
(''Góralski'') occurs in the mountainous area bordering the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
. The Gorals ("Highlanders") take great pride in their culture and the dialect. It exhibits some cultural influences from the Vlach
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
shepherds who migrated from Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
(southern Romania) in the 14th–17th centuries.
# The Poznanski dialect, spoken in Poznań and to some extent in the whole region of the former Prussian Partition (excluding Upper Silesia), with noticeable German influences.
# In the northern and western (formerly German) regions where Poles from the territories annexed by the Soviet Union resettled after World War II, the older generation speaks a dialect of Polish characteristic of the Kresy that includes a longer pronunciation of vowels.
# Poles living in Lithuania (particularly in the Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
region), in Belarus (particularly the northwest), and in the northeast of Poland continue to speak the Kresy, Eastern Borderlands dialect, which sounds "slushed" (in Polish described as ''zaciąganie z ruska'', "speaking with a Ruthenian drawl") and is easily distinguishable.
# Some city dwellers, especially the less affluent population, had their own distinctive dialects – for example, the Warsaw dialect, still spoken by some of the population of Praga on the eastern bank of the Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
. However, these city dialects are mostly extinct due to assimilation with standard Polish.
# Many Poles living in emigrant communities (for example, in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
), whose families left Poland just after World War II, retain a number of minor features of Polish vocabulary as spoken in the first half of the 20th century that now sound archaic to contemporary visitors from Poland.
Polish linguistics has been characterized by a strong strive towards promoting linguistic prescription, prescriptive ideas of language intervention and usage uniformity,[ along with normatively-oriented notions of language "correctness"][ (unusual by Western standards).]
Phonology
Vowels
Polish has six oral vowels (seven oral vowels in written form), which are all monophthongs, and two nasal vowels. The oral vowels are (spelled ''i''), (spelled ''y'' and also transcribed as /ɘ/), (spelled ''e''), (spelled ''a''), (spelled ''o'') and (spelled ''u'' and ''ó'' as separate letters). The nasal vowels are (spelled ''ę'') and (spelled ''ą''). Unlike Czech or Slovak, Polish does not retain phonemic vowel length — the letter ''ó'', which formerly represented lengthened /ɔ/ in older forms of the language, is now vestigial and instead corresponds to /u/.
Consonants
The Polish consonant system shows more complexity: its characteristic features include the series of affricate consonant, affricate and palatal consonants that resulted from four Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
Palatalization (sound change), palatalizations and two further palatalizations that took place in Polish. The full set of consonants, together with their most common spellings, can be presented as follows (although other phonological analyses exist):
Neutralization (linguistics), Neutralization occurs between Voice (phonetics), voiced–voicelessness, voiceless consonant pairs in certain environments, at the end of words (where devoicing occurs) and in certain consonant clusters (where Assimilation (phonology), assimilation occurs). For details, see ''Polish phonology#Voicing and devoicing, Voicing and devoicing'' in the article on Polish phonology.
Most Polish words are paroxytones (that is, the Stress (linguistics), stress falls on the second-to-last syllable of a polysyllabic word), although there are exceptions.
Consonant distribution
Polish permits complex consonant clusters, which historically often arose from the disappearance of yers. Polish can have word-initial and word-medial clusters of up to four consonants, whereas word-final clusters can have up to five consonants. Examples of such clusters can be found in words such as ''bezwzględny'' ('absolute' or 'heartless', 'ruthless'), ''źdźbło'' ('blade of grass'), ('shock'), and ''krnąbrność'' ('disobedience'). A popular Polish tongue-twister (from a verse by Jan Brzechwa) is ('In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed').
Unlike languages such as Czech, Polish does not have syllabic consonants – the nucleus of a syllable is always a vowel.
The consonant is restricted to positions adjacent to a vowel. It also cannot precede the letter ''y''.
Prosody
The predominant stress (linguistics), stress pattern in Polish is penultimate stress – in a word of more than one syllable, the next-to-last syllable is stressed. Alternating preceding syllables carry secondary stress, e.g. in a four-syllable word, where the primary stress is on the third syllable, there will be secondary stress on the first.
Each vowel represents one syllable, although the letter ''i'' normally does not represent a vowel when it precedes another vowel (it represents , palatalization of the preceding consonant, or both depending on analysis). Also the letters ''u'' and ''i'' sometimes represent only semivowels when they follow another vowel, as in ''autor'' ('author'), mostly in loanwords (so not in native ''nauka'' 'science, the act of learning', for example, nor in nativized ''Mateusz'' 'Matthew').
Some loanwords, particularly from the classical languages, have the stress on the antepenultimate (third-from-last) syllable. For example, ''fizyka'' () ('physics') is stressed on the first syllable. This may lead to a rare phenomenon of minimal pairs differing only in stress placement, for example ''muzyka'' 'music' vs. ''muzyka'' – genitive singular of ''muzyk'' 'musician'. When additional syllables are added to such words through inflection or suffixation, the stress normally becomes regular. For example, ''uniwersytet'' (, 'university') has irregular stress on the third (or antepenultimate) syllable, but the genitive ''uniwersytetu'' () and derived adjective ''uniwersytecki'' () have regular stress on the penultimate syllables. Loanwords generally become nativized to have penultimate stress. In psycholinguistic experiments, speakers of Polish have been demonstrated to be sensitive to the distinction between regular penultimate and exceptional antepenultimate stress.
Another class of exceptions is verbs with the conditional endings ''-by, -bym, -byśmy'', etc. These endings are not counted in determining the position of the stress; for example, ''zrobiłbym'' ('I would do') is stressed on the first syllable, and ''zrobilibyśmy'' ('we would do') on the second. According to linguistic prescription, prescriptive authorities, the same applies to the first and second person plural past tense endings ''-śmy, -ście'', although this rule is often ignored in colloquialism, colloquial speech (so ''zrobiliśmy'' 'we did' should be prescriptively stressed on the second syllable, although in usus, practice it is commonly stressed on the third as ''zrobiliśmy''). These irregular stress patterns are explained by the fact that these endings are detachable clitics rather than true verbal inflections: for example, instead of ''kogo zobaczyliście?'' ('whom did you see?') it is possible to say ''kogoście zobaczyli?'' – here ''kogo'' retains its usual stress (first syllable) in spite of the attachment of the clitic. Reanalysis of the endings as inflections when attached to verbs causes the different colloquial stress patterns. These stress patterns are considered part of a "usable" norm of standard Polish - in contrast to the "model" ("high") norm.
Some common word combinations are stressed as if they were a single word. This applies in particular to many combinations of preposition plus a personal pronoun, such as ''do niej'' ('to her'), ''na nas'' ('on us'), ''przeze mnie'' ('because of me'), all stressed on the bolded syllable.
Orthography
The Polish alphabet
The Polish alphabet ( Polish: ''alfabet polski'', ''abecadło'') is the script of the Polish language, the basis for the Polish system of orthography. It is based on the Latin alphabet but includes certain letters with diacritics: the ''kreska ...
derives from the Latin script but includes certain additional letters formed using diacritics. The Polish alphabet was one of three major forms of Latin-based orthography developed for Western and some South Slavic languages, the others being Czech orthography and Croatian language, Croatian orthography, the last of these being a 19th-century invention trying to make a compromise between the first two. Kashubian uses a Polish-based system, Slovak uses a Czech-based system, and Slovene language, Slovene follows the Croatian one; the Sorbian languages blend the Polish and the Czech ones.
Historically, Poland's once diverse and multi-ethnic population utilized many forms of scripture to write Polish. For instance, Lipka Tatars and Muslims inhabiting the eastern parts of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
wrote Polish in the Arabic alphabet, Arabic alphabet. The Cyrillic script is used to a certain extent by Poles in Belarus, Polish speakers in Western Belarus, especially for religious texts.
The diacritics used in the Polish alphabet are the ''kreska'' (graphically similar to the acute accent) over the letters ''ć, ń, ó, ś, ź'' and through the letter in ''ł''; the ''kropka'' (superior dot) over the letter ''ż'', and the ''ogonek'' ("little tail") under the letters ''ą, ę''. The letters ''q, v, x'' are used only in foreign words and names.
Polish orthography is largely phoneme, phonemic—there is a consistent correspondence between letters (or digraph (orthography), digraphs and trigraph (orthography), trigraphs) and phonemes (for exceptions see below). The letters of the alphabet and their normal phonemic values are listed in the following table.
The following Digraph (orthography), digraphs and Trigraph (orthography), trigraphs are used:
Voiced consonant letters frequently come to represent voiceless sounds (as shown in the tables); this occurs at the end of words and in certain clusters, due to the neutralization mentioned in the ''#Phonology, Phonology'' section above. Occasionally also voiceless consonant letters can represent voiced sounds in clusters.
The spelling rule for the palatal sounds , , , and is as follows: before the vowel ''i'' the plain letters ''s, z, c, dz, n'' are used; before other vowels the combinations ''si, zi, ci, dzi, ni'' are used; when not followed by a vowel the diacritic forms ''ś, ź, ć, dź, ń'' are used. For example, the ''s'' in ''siwy'' ("grey-haired"), the ''si'' in ''siarka'' ("sulfur") and the ''ś'' in ''święty'' ("holy") all represent the sound . The exceptions to the above rule are certain loanwords from Latin, Italian, French, Russian or English—where ''s'' before ''i'' is pronounced as ''s'', e.g. ''sinus'', ''sinologia'', ''do re mi fa sol la si do'', ''Saint-Simon i saint-simoniści'', ''Sierioża'', ''Siergiej'', ''Singapur'', ''singiel''. In other loanwords the vowel ''i'' is changed to ''y'', e.g. ''Syria'', ''Sybir'', ''synchronizacja'', ''Syrakuzy''.
The following table shows the correspondence between the sounds and spelling:
Digraph (orthography), Digraphs and Trigraph (orthography), trigraphs are used:
Similar principles apply to , , and , except that these can only occur before vowels, so the spellings are ''k, g, (c)h, l'' before ''i'', and ''ki, gi, (c)hi, li'' otherwise. Most Polish speakers, however, do not consider palatalization of ''k, g, (c)h'' or ''l'' as creating new sounds.
Except in the cases mentioned above, the letter ''i'' if followed by another vowel in the same word usually represents , yet a palatalization of the previous consonant is always assumed.
The reverse case, where the consonant remains unpalatalized but is followed by a palatalized consonant, is written by using ''j'' instead of ''i'': for example, ''zjeść'', "to eat up".
The letters ''ą'' and ''ę'', when followed by plosives and affricates, represent an oral vowel followed by a nasal consonant, rather than a nasal vowel. For example, ''ą'' in ''dąb'' ("oak") is pronounced , and ''ę'' in ''tęcza'' ("rainbow") is pronounced (the nasal assimilates to the following consonant). When followed by ''l'' or ''ł'' (for example ''przyjęli'', ''przyjęły''), ''ę'' is pronounced as just ''e''. When ''ę'' is at the end of the word it is often pronounced as just .
Note that, depending on the word, the phoneme can be spelt ''h'' or ''ch'', the phoneme can be spelt ''ż'' or ''rz'', and can be spelt ''u'' or ''ó''. In several cases it determines the meaning, for example: ''może'' ("maybe") and ''morze'' ("sea").
In occasional words, letters that normally form a digraph are pronounced separately. For example, ''rz'' represents , not , in words like ''zamarzać'' ("freeze") and in the name ''Tarzan''.
Doubled letters are usually pronounced as a single, Gemination#Polish, lengthened consonant, however, some speakers might pronounce the combination as two separate sounds.
There are certain clusters where a written consonant would not be pronounced. For example, the ''ł'' in the word ''jabłko'' ("apple") might be omitted in ordinary speech, leading to the pronunciation ''japko''.
Grammar
Polish is a highly fusional language with relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object (SVO). There are no article (grammar), articles, and subject pronouns are often Pro-drop language, dropped.
Nouns belong to one of three grammatical gender, genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The masculine gender is also divided into subgenders : animate vs inanimate in the singular, human vs nonhuman in the plural. There are seven case (grammar), cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative.
Adjectives agree with nouns in terms of gender, case, and number. Attributive adjectives most commonly precede the noun, although in certain cases, especially in fixed phrases (like ''język polski'', "Polish (language)"), the noun may come first; the rule of thumb is that generic descriptive adjective normally precedes (e.g. ''piękny kwiat'', "beautiful flower") while categorizing adjective often follows the noun (e.g. ''węgiel kamienny'', "black coal"). Most short adjectives and their derived adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by inflection (the superlative is formed by prefixing ''naj-'' to the comparative).
Verbs are of imperfective or perfective aspect (grammar), aspect, often occurring in pairs. Imperfective verbs have a present tense, past tense, compound future tense (except for ''być'' "to be", which has a simple future ''będę'' etc., this in turn being used to form the compound future of other verbs), subjunctive/conditional (formed with the detachable particle ''by''), imperatives, an infinitive, present participle, present gerund and past participle. Perfective verbs have a simple future tense (formed like the present tense of imperfective verbs), past tense, subjunctive/conditional, imperatives, infinitive, present gerund and past participle. Conjugated verb forms agree with their subject in terms of person, number, and (in the case of past tense and subjunctive/conditional forms) gender.
Passive voice, Passive-type constructions can be made using the auxiliary ''być'' or ''zostać'' ("become") with the passive participle. There is also an impersonal construction where the active verb is used (in third person singular) with no subject, but with the reflexive pronoun ''się'' present to indicate a general, unspecified subject (as in ''pije się wódkę'' "vodka is being drunk"—note that ''wódka'' appears in the accusative). A similar sentence type in the past tense uses the passive participle with the ending ''-o'', as in ''widziano ludzi'' ("people were seen"). As in other Slavic languages, there are also subjectless sentences formed using such words as ''można'' ("it is possible") together with an infinitive.
Yes-no questions (both direct and indirect) are formed by placing the word ''czy'' at the start. Negation uses the word ''nie'', before the verb or other item being negated; ''nie'' is still added before the verb even if the sentence also contains other negatives such as ''nigdy'' ("never") or ''nic'' ("nothing"), effectively creating a double negative.
Cardinal number (linguistics), Cardinal numbers have a complex system of inflection and agreement. Zero and cardinal numbers higher than five (except for those ending with the digit 2, 3 or 4 but not ending with 12, 13 or 14) govern the genitive case rather than the nominative or accusative. Special forms of numbers (collective numerals) are used with certain classes of noun, which include ''dziecko'' ("child") and plurale tantum, exclusively plural nouns such as ''drzwi'' ("door").
Borrowed words
Polish has, over the centuries, borrowed a number of words from other languages. When borrowing, pronunciation was adapted to Polish phonemes and spelling was altered to match Polish orthography. In addition, word endings are liberally applied to almost any word to produce verbs, nouns, adjectives, as well as adding the appropriate endings for cases of nouns, adjectives, diminutives, double-diminutives, augmentatives, etc.
Depending on the historical period, borrowing has proceeded from various languages. Notable influences have been Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
(10th–18th centuries), 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, ...
(10th and 14th–15th centuries), 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 ...
(16th–17th centuries), French (17th–19th centuries), German (13–15th and 18th–20th centuries), Hungarian language, Hungarian (15th–16th centuries) and Turkish language, Turkish (17th century). Currently, English words are the most common imports to Polish.
The Latin language, for a very long time the only official language of the Polish state, has had a great influence on Polish. Many Polish words were direct borrowings or calques (e.g. ''wikt:rzeczpospolita, rzeczpospolita'' from ''res publica'') from Latin. Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
was known to a larger or smaller degree by most of the numerous szlachta in the 16th to 18th centuries (and it continued to be extensively taught at secondary schools until World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
). Apart from dozens of loanwords, its influence can also be seen in a number of verbatim Latin phrases in Polish literature (especially from the 19th century and earlier).
During the 12th and 13th centuries, Mongolian words were brought to the Polish language during wars with the armies of Genghis Khan and his descendants, e.g. ''dzida'' (spear) and ''szereg'' (a line or row).
Words from 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, ...
, an important influence during the 10th and 14th–15th centuries include ''sejm'', ''hańba'' and ''brama''.
In 1518, the Polish king Sigismund I of Poland, Sigismund I the Old married Bona Sforza, the niece of the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian, who introduced Italian cuisine to Poland, especially vegetables. Hence, words from Italian include ''pomidor'' from "pomodoro" (tomato), ''kalafior'' from "cavolfiore" (cauliflower), and ''pomarańcza'', a portmanteau from Italian "pomo" (pome) plus "arancio" (orange). A later word of Italian origin is ''autostrada'' (from Italian "autostrada", highway).
In the 18th century, with the rising prominence of France in Europe, French supplanted Latin as an important source of words. Some French borrowings also date from the Napoleonic era, when the Poles were enthusiastic supporters of Napoleon. Examples include ''ekran'' (from French "écran", screen), ''abażur'' ("abat-jour", lamp shade), ''rekin'' ("requin", shark), ''meble'' ("meuble", furniture), ''bagaż'' ("bagage", luggage), ''walizka'' ("valise", suitcase), ''fotel'' ("fauteuil", armchair), ''plaża'' ("plage", beach) and ''koszmar'' ("cauchemar", nightmare). Some place names have also been adapted from French, such as the Warsaw borough of Żoliborz ("joli bord" = beautiful riverside), as well as the town of Żyrardów (from the name Philippe de Girard, Girard, with the Polish suffix -ów attached to refer to the founder of the town).
Many words were borrowed from the German language from the sizable German population in Polish cities during medieval times. German words found in the Polish language are often connected with trade, the building industry, civic rights and city life. Some words were assimilated verbatim, for example ''handel'' (trade) and ''dach'' (roof); others are pronounced similarly, but differ in writing ''Schnur''—''sznur'' (cord). As a result of being neighbors with Germany, Polish has many German expressions which have become literally translated (calques). The regional dialects of Upper Silesia and Masuria (Modern Polish East Prussia) have noticeably more German loanwords than other varieties.
The Poland-Turkey relations, contacts with Ottoman Turkey in the 17th century brought many new words, some of them still in use, such as: ''jar'' ("yar" deep valley), ''szaszłyk'' ("şişlik" shish kebab), ''filiżanka'' ("fincan" cup), ''arbuz'' ("karpuz" watermelon), ''dywan'' ("divan" carpet), etc.
From the founding of the Kingdom of Poland in 1025 through the early years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
created in 1569, Poland was the most tolerant country of Jews in Europe. Known as the "Heaven for the nobles, Purgatory for the townspeople, Hell for the peasants, and Paradise for the Jews, paradise for the Jews", it became a shelter for persecuted and expelled European Jewish communities and the home to the world's largest Jewish community of the time. As a result, many Polish words come from 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 ...
, spoken by the large History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish population that existed until the The Holocaust, Holocaust. Borrowed Yiddish words include ''bachor'' (an unruly boy or child), ''bajzel'' (slang for mess), ''belfer'' (slang for teacher), ''ciuchy'' (slang for clothing), ''cymes'' (slang for very tasty food), ''geszeft'' (slang for business), ''kitel'' (slang for apron), ''machlojka'' (slang for scam), ''mamona'' (money), ''manele'' (slang for oddments), ''myszygene'' (slang for lunatic), ''pinda'' (slang for girl, pejoratively), ''plajta'' (slang for bankruptcy), ''rejwach'' (noise), ''szmal'' (slang for money), and ''trefny'' (dodgy).
The mountain dialects of the Gorals, Górale in southern Poland, have quite a number of words borrowed from Hungarian language, Hungarian (e.g. ''baca'', ''gazda'', ''juhas'', ''hejnał'') and Romanian language, Romanian as a result of historical contacts with Hungarian-dominated Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and Wallachian herders who travelled north along the Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians.
grypsera, Thieves' slang includes such words as ''kimać'' (to sleep) or ''majcher'' (knife) of Greek origin, considered then unknown to the outside world.
In addition, Turkish and Tatar have exerted influence upon the vocabulary of war, names of oriental costumes etc. Russian borrowings began to make their way into Polish from the second half of the 19th century on.
Polish has also received an intensive number of English loanwords, particularly after World War II. Recent loanwords come primarily from the English language, mainly those that have Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
or Greek language, Greek roots, for example (computer), (from 'corruption', but sense restricted to 'bribery') etc. Concatenation of parts of words (e.g. ''auto-moto''), which is not native to Polish but common in English, for example, is also sometimes used. When borrowing English words, Polish often changes their spelling. For example, Latin suffix '-tio' corresponds to ''-cja''. To make the word plural, ''-cja'' becomes ''-cje''. Examples of this include ''inauguracja'' (inauguration), ''dewastacja'' (devastation), ''recepcja'' (reception), ''konurbacja'' (conurbation) and ''konotacje'' (connotations). Also, the digraph ''qu'' becomes ''kw'' (''kwadrant'' = quadrant; ''kworum'' = quorum).
Loanwords from Polish
The Polish language has influenced others. Particular influences appear in other Slavic languages and in History of the Germans in Poland, German — due to their proximity and shared borders. Examples of loanwords include German ''Grenze'' (border), Dutch language, Dutch and Afrikaans ''grens'' from Polish ''granica''; German ''Peitzker'' from Polish ''piskorz'' (weatherfish); German ''Zobel'', French ''zibeline'', Swedish language, Swedish ''sobel'', and English ''sable'' from Polish ''soból''; and ''ogonek'' ("little tail") — the word describing a diacritic hook-sign added below some letters in various alphabets. The common Germanic languages, Germanic word ''quartz'' comes from the dialectical Old Polish
The Old Polish language ( pl, język staropolski, staropolszczyzna) was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language.
The sources for the study of the Ol ...
''kwardy''. ":pl:Szmata, Szmata," a Polish, Slovak and Rusyn language, Ruthenian word for "mop" or "rag", became part of 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 ...
. The Polish language exerted significant lexical influence upon Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, particularly in the fields of abstract and technical terminology; for example, the Ukrainian word ''panstvo'' (country) is derived from Polish . The Polish influence on Ukrainian is particularly marked on western Ukrainian dialects in western Ukraine, which for centuries was under Polish cultural domination.[
There is a substantial number of Polish words which officially became part of Yiddish, once the main language of European Jews. These include basic items, objects or terms such as a Bun, bread bun (Polish ''bułka'', Yiddish בולקע ''bulke''), a fishing rod (''wędka'', ווענטקע ''ventke''), an oak (''dąb'', דעמב ''demb''), a meadow (''łąka'', לאָנקע ''lonke''), a moustache (''wąsy'', וואָנצעס ''vontses'') and a bladder (''pęcherz'', פּענכער ''penkher'').
Quite a few culinary loanwords exist in German and in other languages, some of which describe distinctive features of Polish cuisine. These include German and English ''Quark (dairy product), Quark'' from ''twaróg'' (a kind of fresh cheese) and German ''Gurke'', English ''gherkin'' from ''ogórek'' (cucumber). The word ''pierogi'' (Polish dumplings) has spread internationally, as well as ''pączki'' (Polish donuts) and kiełbasa (sausage, e.g. ''kolbaso'' in Esperanto). As far as ''pierogi'' concerned, the original Polish word is already in plural (sing. ''pieróg'', plural ''pierogi''; stem ''pierog-'', plural ending ''-i''; NB. ''o'' becomes ''ó'' in a closed syllable, like here in singular), yet it is commonly used with the English plural ending ''-s'' in Canada and United States of America, ''pierogis'', thus making it a "double plural". A similar situation happened with the Polish loanword from English ''czipsy'' ("potato chips")—from English ''chips'' being already plural in the original (''chip'' + ''-s''), yet it has obtained the Polish plural ending ''-y''.
It is believed that the English word ''spruce'' was derived from ''Prusy'', the Polish name for the region of Prussia. It became ''spruce'' because in Polish, ''z Prus'', sounded like "spruce" in English (transl. "from Prussia") and was a generic term for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic League, Hanseatic merchants and because the tree was believed to have come from Polish Ducal Prussia. However, it can be argued that the word is actually derived from the Old French term ''Pruce'', meaning literally Prussia.]
Literature
The Polish language started to be used in literature in the Late Middle Ages. Notable works include the ''Holy Cross Sermons'' (13th/14th century), ''Bogurodzica'' (15th century) and ''Master Polikarp's Dialog with Death'' (15th century). The most influential Renaissance-era literary figures in Poland were poet Jan Kochanowski (''Laments (Kochanowski), Laments''), Mikołaj Rej and Piotr Skarga (''Lives of the Saints (Skarga), The Lives of the Saints'') who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language and laid foundations for the modern Polish grammar. During the Enlightenment in Poland, Age of Enlightenment in Poland, Ignacy Krasicki, known as "the Prince of Poets", wrote the first Polish novel called ''The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom'' as well as ''Fables and Parables''. Another significant work form this period is ''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'' written by Jan Potocki, a Polish nobleman, Egyptologist, linguist, and adventurer.
In the Romanticism in Poland, Romantic Era, the most celebrated national poets, referred to as the Three Bards, were Adam Mickiewicz (''Pan Tadeusz'' and ''Dziady (poem), Dziady''), Juliusz Słowacki (''Balladyna (drama), Balladyna'') and Zygmunt Krasiński (''The Undivine Comedy''). Poet and dramatist Cyprian Norwid is regarded by some scholars as the "Fourth Bard". Important positivist writers include Bolesław Prus (''The Doll (novel), The Doll'', ''Pharaoh (Prus novel), Pharaoh''), Henryk Sienkiewicz (author of numerous historical novels the most internationally acclaimed of which is ''Quo Vadis (novel), Quo Vadis''), Maria Konopnicka (''Rota (poem), Rota''), Eliza Orzeszkowa (''Nad Niemnem''), Adam Asnyk and Gabriela Zapolska (''The Morality of Mrs. Dulska''). The period known as Young Poland produced such renowned literary figures as Stanisław Wyspiański (''The Wedding (1901 play), The Wedding''), Stefan Żeromski (''Ludzie bezdomni, Homeless People'', ''The Spring to Come''), Władysław Reymont (''The Peasants'') and Leopold Staff. The prominent interbellum period authors include Maria Dąbrowska (''Nights and Days''), Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (''Insatiability''), Julian Tuwim, Bruno Schulz, Bolesław Leśmian, Witold Gombrowicz and Zuzanna Ginczanka.
Other notable writers and poets from Poland active during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and after are Zbigniew Herbert, Stanisław Lem, Zofia Nałkowska, Tadeusz Borowski, Sławomir Mrożek, Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Julia Hartwig, Marek Krajewski, Joanna Bator, Andrzej Sapkowski, Adam Zagajewski, Dorota Masłowska, Jerzy Pilch, Ryszard Kapuściński and Andrzej Stasiuk.
Five people writing in the Polish language have been awarded the List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature: Henryk Sienkiewicz (1905), Władysław Reymont (1924), Czesław Miłosz (1980), Wisława Szymborska (1996) and Olga Tokarczuk (2018).
See also
* List of English words of Polish origin, Polonism (words of Polish origin)
* Adam Mickiewicz Institute
* ''A Translation Guide to 19th-Century Polish-Language Civil-Registration Documents''
* BABEL Speech Corpus
* ''Holy Cross Sermons''
* Lechitic languages
* University of Łódź School of Polish for Foreigners
* West Slavic languages
The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group. They include Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. The languages have traditionally been spoken across a mostly continuous region encom ...
* West Slavs
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
The Polish Language: A Cheatsheet for Beginners
from Culture.pl
Podręczniki języka polskiego dla obcokrajowców
Basic Polish Phrases Audio Course
King's College London: Polish Language Resources
University of Pittsburgh: Polish Language Website
*
A Touch of Polish
, BBC
A Concise Polish Grammar, by Ronald F. Feldstein (110-page 600-KB pdf)
Oscar Swan's Electronic Polish-English, English-Polish dictionary
English-Polish Online Dictionary
Basic English-Polish Dictionary
Big English-Polish Dictionary
with example sentences from translation memories
Polish Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words
from Wiktionary'
Swadesh-list appendix
Learn Polish
—List of Online Polish Courses
A taste of the linguistic diversity of contemporary Poland
from Culture.pl
KELLY Project word list
9000 most useful words for learners of Polish
Dictionaries24.com
Online dictionary with English-Polish and Polish-English translations
‘Polszczyzna’ & the Revolutionary Feminine Suffix
from Culture.pl
{{Authority control
Polish language,
Languages of Belarus
Languages of Lithuania
Languages of Poland
Languages of Ukraine
Lechitic languages
Subject–verb–object languages
West Slavic languages
Articles citing Nationalencyklopedin
Slavic languages written in Latin script