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The languages of Poland include Polish – the language of the native 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.
Poland is one of the most linguistically homogeneous European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in areas which were once administered or occupied by Poland, notably in neighboring Lithuania , Belarus , and Ukraine .
It is the only language in Poland with that status, which was granted by the Act of 6 January 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on the Regional Language of the Polish Parliament. [30] The act provides for its use in official contexts in ten communes in which speakers are at least 20% of the population. [ 31 ]
The Polish language is a West Slavic language, and thus descends from Proto-Slavic, and more distantly from Proto-Indo-European.More specifically, it is a member of the Lechitic branch of the West Slavic languages, along with other languages spoken in areas within or close to the area of modern Poland: including Kashubian, Silesian, and the extinct Slovincian and Polabian.
Poland, [d] officially the Republic of Poland, [e] is a country in Central Europe.It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia [f] to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west.
Today, in some towns and villages in northern Poland, Kashubian is the second language spoken after Polish, [65] and it is taught in some regional schools. [66] Since 2005 Kashubian enjoys legal protection in Poland as an official regional language. It is the only tongue in Poland with this status.
First Polish language dictionary published in free Poland after the century of suppression of Polish culture by foreign powers. Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages (also spelled Lechitic) composed of Polish, Kashubian, Silesian and its archaic variant Slovincian, and the extinct Polabian language.
The term "Polonia" is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, and Canada. France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century.