Polishlanguage

Polish language, or język polski, is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic subgroup. It is the official language of Poland and the most widely spoken language in the country, with about 45 million native speakers and a large global diaspora.

Writing system: Polish uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics. The alphabet contains 32 letters, including ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż; letters q, v, x occur mainly in foreign words and names. Stress falls on the penultimate syllable in most words.

Phonology and grammar: Polish has a rich system of consonants with distinct hard and soft variants and many consonant clusters. The language is highly inflected, with seven grammatical cases, three genders, and plural forms. Verbs show aspect (imperfective vs perfective), mood, tense, and voice.

Dialects and standard form: Major dialect groups include Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Masovian, and Silesian; Kashubian is frequently treated as a separate language. The standard language used in education and media is based on central Polish dialects, with some regional variation. Polish is the official language of Poland and is taught abroad in communities and schools.

History: Polish developed from Old Polish during the Middle Ages, evolving through Early Modern Polish into the modern standard. It has borrowed from Latin, German, French, and other languages, shaping its vocabulary and orthography.