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Polish
język polski
Pronunciation [ˈpɔlski]
Native to Poland; bordering regions of Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic; along the Belarusian–Lithuanian and Belarusian–Latvian border; Germany, Romania, Israel.
Native speakers 40 million  (2007)
Language family
Indo-European
  • Balto-Slavic
    • Slavic
      • West Slavic
        • Lechitic
          • Polish
Early forms:
Old Polish
  • Middle Polish
    • Polish
Writing system Latin
Official status
Official language in

Poland


Minority language:
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Romania
Ukraine
Language codes
ISO 639-1 pl
ISO 639-2 pol
ISO 639-3 pol


Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland (being that country's official language) and by Polish minorities in other countries. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has several additions to the letters of the basic Latin script.

Despite the pressure of non-Polish administrations in Poland (during the 19th and early 20th centuries) resulting from Partitions of Poland, who often attempted to suppress the Polish language, a rich literature has developed over the centuries, and the language is currently the largest, in terms of speakers, of the West Slavic group. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian and ahead of Ukrainian.

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