Polish (language)
| Polish | |
|---|---|
| Język polski | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈpɔlski] |
| Native to | Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary; bordering regions of western Ukraine and western Belarus, Romania, Moldova. See also Polish diaspora. |
| Ethnicity | Poles |
|
Native speakers
|
55 million (2010) |
|
Early forms
|
Old Polish
|
|
Latin (Polish alphabet) Polish Braille |
|
| System Językowo-Migowy (SJM) | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Poland European Union
|
|
Recognised minority
language in |
|
| Regulated by | Polish Language Council |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | pl |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual code: szl – Silesian |
| Glottolog | poli1260 |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-cc 53-AAA-b..-d |
 |
|
Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages. Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the official languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script (ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż). Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak.
Although the Austrian, German and Russian administrations exerted much pressure on the Polish nation (during the 19th and early 20th centuries) following the Partitions of Poland, which resulted in attempts to suppress the Polish language, a rich literature has regardless developed over the centuries and the language currently has the largest number of speakers of the West Slavic group. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian and just ahead of Ukrainian.
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Wikipedia