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106-582: The Partition Sejm ( Polish : Sejm Rozbiorowy ) was a Sejm lasting from 1773 to 1775 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , convened by its three neighbours (the Russian Empire , Prussia and Austria ) in order to legalize their First Partition of Poland . During its first days in session, that Sejm was the site of Tadeusz Rejtan 's famous gesture of protest against Partition. The Sejm also passed other legislation, notably establishing

212-574: A partition of the Polish borderlands by Austria, Prussia, and Russia, with the largest share going to the party most weakened by the recent changes in balance of power, Austria. Thus Frederick attempted to encourage Russia to direct its expansion towards weak and dysfunctional Poland instead of the Ottomans. Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz counter-proposed that Prussia take lands from Poland in return for relinquishing Silesia to Austria, but this plan

318-499: A / (spelled a ), / ɔ / (spelled o ) and / u / (spelled u and ó as separate letters). The nasal vowels are / ɛ w̃ / (spelled ę ) and / ɔ w̃ / (spelled ą ). Unlike Czech or Slovak, Polish does not retain phonemic vowel length — the letter ó , which formerly represented lengthened /ɔː/ in older forms of the language, is now vestigial and instead corresponds to /u/. The Polish consonant system shows more complexity: its characteristic features include

424-564: A convenient excuse); in fact all three were interested in territorial gains. After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities , Henry convinced Frederick and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. Under pressure from Prussia, which for a long time wanted to annex

530-759: A dialect of Polish. Many Silesians consider themselves a separate ethnicity and have been advocating for the recognition of Silesian as a regional language in Poland . The law recognizing it as such was passed by the Sejm and Senate in April 2024, but has been vetoed by President Andrzej Duda in late May of 2024. 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 , Agnieszka Pianka, Alfred F. Majewicz, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz ) assume that extralinguistic criteria decide whether

636-656: A few culturally and linguistically related tribes from the basins of the Vistula and Oder before eventually accepting baptism in 966. With Western Christianity , Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet , which made it possible to write down Polish, which until then had existed only as a spoken language . The closest relatives of Polish are the Elbe and Baltic Sea Lechitic dialects ( Polabian and Pomeranian varieties). All of them, except Kashubian , are extinct. The precursor to modern Polish

742-569: A few selected other deputies were allowed a voice, outlining the terms of the settlement. Other names for the Sejm in the English language include Dumb or Muted. The terms themselves were significantly designed by Peter the Great. The Sejm lasted for one day only, or more precisely, six hours. This settlement stipulated that: Sources vary whether Russia was recognized as the power that would guarantee

848-462: A large number of branches in all of these areas) offers services available in Polish at all of their cash machines in addition to English and Spanish . According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England and Wales who consider Polish to be their "main" language. In Canada , there is a significant Polish Canadian population : There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to

954-538: 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 and subsequently adopted into the vernacular 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 . In addition to being

1060-533: 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 and others, for example the Ministry of Administration and Digitization recognized the Silesian language. In July 2007,

1166-624: A local Wielkopolska confederation and from Lithuania. Neither side was however posed to achieve victory, and the Russian pressure mounted; eventually the Russians declared that they would consider any side that refused to enter into negotiations an enemy, and open hostilities against them. Unable to defeat the Confederates, many of whom still saw Peter as the protector of their rights (and some of whom hoped for Augustus to be deposed), Augustus agreed to open

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1272-454: A nasal consonant, rather than a nasal vowel. For example, ą in dąb ("oak") is pronounced [ɔm] , and ę in tęcza ("rainbow") is pronounced [ɛn] (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 [ɛ] . Depending on

1378-408: A population of over four to five million people (about a third of its population of 14 million before the partitions). The treaty was a major success for Frederick II of Prussia: Prussia's share might have been the smallest, but it was also significantly developed and strategically important. Russia received the largest, but economically least-important area, in the northeast. Notable supporters of

1484-491: 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'), prze ze mnie ('because of me'), all stressed on the bolded syllable. The Polish alphabet 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,

1590-405: A verse by Jan Brzechwa ) is W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie [fʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛˈʂɨɲɛ ˈxʂɔw̃ʂt͡ʂ ˈbʐmi fˈtʂt͡ɕiɲɛ] ('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 /j/ is restricted to positions adjacent to a vowel. It also cannot precede

1696-478: A vowel when it precedes another vowel (it represents /j/ , 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 /ˈawtɔr/ ('author'), mostly in loanwords (so not in native nauka /naˈu.ka/ 'science, the act of learning', for example, nor in nativized Mateusz /maˈte.uʂ/ 'Matthew'). Some loanwords , particularly from

1802-485: A war against Russia. Prussia, friendly towards both Russia and Austria, suggested a series of territorial adjustments, in which Austria would be compensated by parts of Prussian Silesia , and Prussia in turn would receive Polish Ermland (Warmia) and parts of the Royal Prussia , a Polish fief already under Baltic German hegemony. King Frederick II of Prussia had no intention of giving up Silesia, gained recently in

1908-447: Is possible to say ko goście zoba czy li? – 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

2014-512: Is the Old Polish language . Ultimately, Polish descends from the unattested Proto-Slavic language. The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska , Latin : 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 ;

2120-518: Is the most widely-used minority language in Lithuania's Vilnius County , by 26% of the population, according to the 2001 census results, as Vilnius 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 and Volyn Oblasts , while in West Belarus it is used by the significant Polish minority, especially in

2226-430: 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 phonemic —there is a consistent correspondence between letters (or digraphs and trigraphs ) and phonemes (for exceptions see below). The letters of the alphabet and their normal phonemic values are listed in

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2332-401: The ś in święty ("holy") all represent the sound / ɕ / . 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

2438-579: The Brest 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 , Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. According to the 2000 United States Census , 667,414 Americans of age five years and over reported Polish as

2544-620: The Commission of National Education . The Council was intended by the partitioners to be an institution easier to control than the unruly Sejms, and indeed it remained under the influence of the Russian Empire. It was nonetheless a significant improvement in the Commonwealth governance. The Council, with committees (ministries) on Foreign Affairs, Treasury, Defense, Justice and the Interior (Police),

2650-601: The Crown of Poland , and Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At least half of the deputies were bribed by the foreign powers, and others were threatened. Some deputies ( Tadeusz Rejtan , Samuel Korsak , Stanisław Bohuszewicz , Franciszek Jerzmanowski , Stanisław Kożuchowski , Rupert Dunin , Jan Tymowski , J. Zaremba, Michał Radoszewski , Ignacy Suchecki , Tadeusz Wołodkowicz ) tried to protest, which caused delays. Out of those, Rejtan's gesture – in which he

2756-533: The Permanent Council and the Commission of National Education . Cardinal Laws were confirmed. The new legislation was guaranteed by the Russian Empire, giving it another excuse to interfere in the Commonwealth politics if the legislation it favored was changed. Russia was the party most determined to form the Permanent Council, which it saw as further means to control the Commonwealth. The creation of

2862-526: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 's influence gave Polish the status of lingua franca in Central and Eastern Europe . The process of standardization began in the 14th century and solidified in the 16th century during the Middle Polish era. Standard Polish was based on various dialectal features, with the Greater Poland dialect group serving as the base. After World War II , Standard Polish became

2968-559: The Silesian Wars . He was, however, also interested in finding a peaceful solution – his alliance with Russia would draw him into a potential war with Austria, and the Seven Years' War had left Prussia's treasury and army weakened. He was also interested in protecting the weakening Ottoman Empire, which could be advantageously utilized in the event of a Prussian war either with Russia or Austria. Frederick's brother, Prince Henry , spent

3074-511: The United Kingdom and the United States . 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. At the time, it was a collection of dialect groups with some mutual features, but much regional variation was present. Mieszko I , ruler of the Polans tribe from the Greater Poland region, united

3180-474: The classical languages , have the stress on the antepenultimate (third-from-last) syllable. For example, fizyka ( /ˈfizɨka/ ) ('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 /ˈmuzɨka/ 'music' vs. muzyka /muˈzɨka/ – genitive singular of muzyk 'musician'. When additional syllables are added to such words through inflection or suffixation ,

3286-569: The flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) , as well as the expulsion of Ukrainians and Operation Vistula , the 1947 migration of Ukrainian minorities in the Recovered Territories in the west of the country, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak Polish somewhat differently, although the differences between modern-day vernacular varieties and standard Polish ( język ogólnopolski ) appear relatively slight. Most of

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3392-494: The " Polish anarchy" was not to be easily governed. Hence Peter's goal was to weaken both sides, and to prevent Augustus from strengthening his position, which he feared would lead to a resurgent Commonwealth that could threaten Russia's recent gains and growing influence. He succeeded in forcing through conditions (such as reduction of the Commonwealth army's size) that decreased the Commonwealth's political status relative to Russia. Peter used Augustus' recent policies, aiming at

3498-826: The " free elections " and decided the outcome of much of Poland's internal politics. The Repnin Sejm , for example, was named after the Russian ambassador who unofficially presided over the proceedings. The Partition Sejm and the First Partition occurred after the balance of power in Europe shifted, with Russian victories against the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) strengthening Russia and endangering Habsburg interests in that region (particularly in Moldavia and Wallachia ). At that point, Habsburg Austria considered waging

3604-416: The 16th century, which is also regarded as the " Golden Age of Polish literature". The orthography was modified in the 19th century and in 1936. Tomasz Kamusella notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this day." Polish evolved into the main sociolect of

3710-457: The 1700s as the successor to the medieval Old Polish (10th–16th centuries) and Middle Polish (16th–18th centuries). Among the major languages, it is most closely related to Slovak and Czech but differs in terms of pronunciation and general grammar. Additionally, Polish was profoundly influenced by Latin and other Romance languages like Italian and French as well as Germanic languages (most notably German ), which contributed to

3816-481: The 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto (91,810 speakers) and Montreal . 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) . Poles settled in the " Recovered Territories " in the west and north, which had previously been mostly German -speaking. Some Poles remained in

3922-458: The Austrian border. An attempt of Bar Confederates to kidnap King Poniatowski on 3 November 1771 gave the three courts a pretext to showcase the "Polish anarchy" and the need for its neighbors to step in and "save" the country and its citizens. Already by 1769–71, both Austria and Prussia had annexed some border territories belonging to the Commonwealth. On 19 February 1772, the agreement of partition

4028-533: The Commission of National Education, the Commonwealth's and Europe's first ministry of education, is seen as the proudest and most constructive achievement of the otherwise often-deplored Partition Sejm. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was reduced from the status of a major European power to that of a Russian protectorate (or vassal or satellite state ). Russian tsars effectively chose Polish-Lithuanian monarchs utilizing

4134-518: The Commonwealth. Finally, a Sejm session was called for 1 February 1717. To prevent the use of liberum veto from disrupting Sejm proceedings, the session was turned into a confederated sejm . (It was also a pacification sejm ). Threatened by a strong Russian army, with Russian soldiers "guarding" the proceedings, the Silent Sejm was known as such because only the speaker ( marshal of the Sejm ) Stanisław Ledóchowski ( podkomorzy krzemienicki), and

4240-512: The Commonwealth. The passive electoral rights of the Orthodox , Eastern Catholics and Protestants were diminished, with a restriction limiting the number of non- Roman Catholic Sejm deputies to three (one from Greater Poland , one from Lesser Poland , and one from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). They were also banned from election to the Senate or ministerial positions. Royal power was restricted, as

4346-578: The Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish"). The earliest treatise on Polish orthography was written by Jakub Parkosz  [ pl ] around 1470. The first printed book in Polish appeared in either 1508 or 1513, while the oldest Polish newspaper was established in 1661. Starting in the 1520s, large numbers of books in the Polish language were published, contributing to increased homogeneity of grammar and orthography. The writing system achieved its overall form in

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4452-625: The Jesuits' suppression. Polish language Polish ( endonym : język polski , [ˈjɛ̃zɘk ˈpɔlskʲi] , polszczyzna [pɔlˈʂt͡ʂɘzna] or simply polski , [ˈpɔlskʲi] ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group within the Indo-European language family written in the Latin script . It is primarily spoken in Poland and serves as

4558-525: The Polish king and the Senate of Poland were debating on the course of action, the patience of foreign powers was running out. Eventually, one of the most prominent opponents of agreeing to the foreign demands, bishop Adam Stanisław Krasiński , was abducted by Cossacks and transported to Warsaw, where the foreign ambassadors demanded that the King and the Senate call in the Sejm (the entire Polish parliament) to ratify

4664-546: The Russian-supported Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski , was seen as both weak and too independent-minded; eventually the Russian court decided that the usefulness of Poland as a protectorate had diminished. The three powers officially justified their actions as a compensation for dealing with a troublesome neighbor and restoring order in Poland through military intervention (the Bar Confederation provided

4770-474: The Sejm begun with a long speech by Ledóchowski, that other marshals of provincial confederations were allowed to speak in order to renounce their positions, that the chancellor Jan Sebastian Szembek was able to reply to them, and that the deputy and commissar Michał Potocki read the constitution and relevant treaties. At the same time, the sources agree that most of the deputies were prevented from speaking; Szujski notes that hetman Stanisław Mateusz Rzewuski

4876-490: The Sejm, which was adjourned again. The commission was unable to carry out its changes in that period, and thus it was allowed to extend its deliberations once more; there were ultimately seven such extensions. The Cardinal Laws , a quasi-constitution endorsing most of the conservative laws responsible for the inefficient functioning of the Commonwealth, were confirmed and guaranteed by the partitioning powers. The Sejm also continued enacting laws reducing religious tolerance in

4982-479: The Silent Sejm dominated the Polish political scene until the late 18th century, when a new wave of reforms led to the Constitution of the 3 May , soon followed by partitions of Poland and loss of Polish sovereignty for 123 years. a Through some sources claim that the entire Sejm was silent, or that only Ledóchowski spoke, in fact several people spoke during the Sejm. Józef Szujski notes that

5088-671: The Silesian language was recognized by ISO , and was attributed an ISO code of szl. Some additional characteristic but less widespread regional dialects include: Polish linguistics has been characterized by a strong strive towards promoting prescriptive ideas of language intervention and usage uniformity, along with normatively-oriented notions of language "correctness" (unusual by Western standards). Polish has six oral vowels (seven oral vowels in written form), which are all monophthongs , and two nasal vowels . The oral vowels are / i / (spelled i ), / ɨ / (spelled y and also transcribed as /ɘ/ or /ɪ/), / ɛ / (spelled e ), /

5194-502: The Treasury and the Army). It took over many of the possessions of the recently disbanded Jesuit order, and became the first ministry of education in Europe. As such, its creation is universally seen as the proudest and most constructive achievement of the otherwise deplored Partition Sejm. The fiscal policy was also reformed, with one tax being introduced and tariffs being reintroduced. Military

5300-485: The cases mentioned above, the letter i if followed by another vowel in the same word usually represents / j / , 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

5406-500: The control of the new council and supervised by the five parallel departments of the Council. The Council, in addition to its administrative duties, would present to the king three candidates for each nomination to the Senate and other main offices. The Commission of National Education, another type of a newly created ministry (a central state institution of a collegial structure), was one of the three Great Commissions (the other two were for

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5512-687: 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 1280. The book is exhibited in the Archdiocesal Museum in Wrocław, and as of 2015 has been added to UNESCO 's " Memory of the World " list. The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of

5618-403: The deputies and senators in service of foreign powers declared it a confederated sejm (with decisions decided by the majority) to prevent liberum veto (the right of any deputy to force an immediate end to the current session and nullify any legislation that had already been passed) being used to stop it. The marshals of the Sejm were Adam Poniński , one of the nobles in Russian service, for

5724-479: 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 [bɛzˈvzɡlɛndnɨ] ('absolute' or 'heartless', 'ruthless'), źdźbło [ˈʑd͡ʑbwɔ] ('blade of grass'), wstrząs [ˈfstʂɔw̃s] ('shock'), and krnąbrność [ˈkrnɔmbrnɔɕt͡ɕ] ('disobedience'). A popular Polish tongue-twister (from

5830-430: 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, zro biłbym ('I would do') is stressed on the first syllable, and zro bi libyśmy ('we would do') on the second. According to prescriptive authorities ,

5936-520: The eastern parts of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth wrote Polish in the Arabic alphabet. The Cyrillic script is used to a certain extent today by 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 ;

6042-420: The end of words (where devoicing occurs) and in certain consonant clusters (where assimilation occurs). For details, see Voicing and devoicing in the article on Polish phonology. Most Polish words are paroxytones (that is, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable of a polysyllabic word), although there are exceptions. Polish permits complex consonant clusters, which historically often arose from

6148-469: The entire country. Polish has traditionally been described as consisting of three to five main regional dialects: Silesian and Kashubian , spoken in Upper Silesia and Pomerania respectively, are thought of as either Polish dialects or distinct languages , depending on the criteria used. Kashubian contains a number of features not found elsewhere in Poland, e.g. nine distinct oral vowels (vs.

6254-416: The establishment of standing taxes for the military), the Sejm is regarded negatively by modern historians. The reduction in the size of the army and the establishment of Russia's position as the settlement's proposed (even if rejected) guarantor reinforced Commonwealth military inferiority compared to its neighbors, and unofficially, put it in the position of a Russian protectorate . The Russian tsar, as

6360-462: The following table. The following digraphs and 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 section above. Occasionally also voiceless consonant letters can represent voiced sounds in clusters. The spelling rule for

6466-553: The form of confederations  – legal rebellions against the king permitted under the Golden Freedoms . Augustus II wanted to strengthen royal power in the Commonwealth and to that end he brought in troops from Saxony (by the summer of 1714 more than 25,000 Saxon troops were inside Commonwealth's borders). This produced dissent within the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Great Northern War , which marked

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6572-643: The government). The committee was to deliberate until September, and the rest of the Sejm was adjourned in the meantime. Despite some protests, on 18 September 1773, the Committee formally signed the treaty of cession, renouncing all claims of the Commonwealth to the occupied territories. The Sejm on 30 September 1773 accepted the partition treaty. By the first partition the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 211,000 km² (30% of its territory, amounting at that time to about 733,000 km²), with

6678-496: The king lost the power to give titles and positions of military officers, ministers and senators, and the starostwo territories for Crown lands , most of which would be awarded through an auction. In return, the king received four starostwa for personal possession. The royal (free) election was confirmed, with stipulations that future kings had to come from the Polish nobility , and sons and grandsons of any king could not succeed him to

6784-538: The language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English , 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 (185,749), New York (111,740), and New Jersey (74,663). Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services (which has

6890-473: The last and most notable of several confederations formed against Augustus at that time. The Confederates were supported by most of the Commonwealth's own army. The Russians entered the country, but did not participate in any major engagements. They bided their time, as Peter posed as the mediator between the Commonwealth's king and its szlachta. Crucially, the Russians did not support the Confederates as promised, and instead insisted on bringing both sides to

6996-439: The letter y . The predominant 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

7102-537: The letters of the basic 26-letter Latin alphabet , while removing three (x, q, v). Those three letters are at times included in an extended 35-letter alphabet. The traditional set comprises 23 consonants and 9 written vowels , including two nasal vowels ( ę , ą ) defined by a reversed diacritic hook called an ogonek . Polish is a synthetic and fusional language which has seven grammatical cases . It has fixed penultimate stress and an abundance of palatal consonants . Contemporary Polish developed in

7208-431: 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 differences. The modern standard dialect , often termed as "correct Polish", is spoken or at least understood throughout

7314-460: The most widely spoken variant of Polish across the country, and most dialects stopped being the form of Polish spoken in villages. 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 . Polish

7420-540: The name Tarzan . Silent Sejm Augustus II the Strong of the Saxon House of Wettin was elected to the throne of Poland in 1697. The Wettins, used to absolute rule , attempted to govern through intimidation and the use of force, which led to a series of conflicts between Wettin supporters and opponents (including another pretender to the Polish throne, King Stanisław Leszczyński ). Those conflicts often took

7526-450: The negotiating table. The civil war lasted for a year and the outcome hung in the balance. Saxon forces under the command of Jacob Heinrich von Flemming enjoyed military superiority, advanced south-eastwards and took Zamość (this victory was however accomplished less through military tactics than through diplomacy and a treachery). The confederates then pushed back, entered Wielkopolska , and took Poznań . They gained some support from

7632-454: The negotiations with Russians acting as arbitrators. The Russians were represented by a delegation headed by prince Grigori Dolgorukov (1657—1723). A peace treaty between the Confederates and the Augustus was signed on 3 or 4 November 1716, as relations between the Confederates and the Russians deteriorated. The Russians made it increasingly apparent that their goals were not wholly benign to

7738-575: The nobles in Poland–Lithuania in the 15th century. The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the Kingdom of Poland . Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , Congress Poland , the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria , and as the administrative language in the Russian Empire 's Western Krai . The growth of

7844-604: The northern Polish province of Royal Prussia , the three powers agreed on the First Partition of Poland . This was proposed under the threat of the possible Austrian-Ottoman alliance. Only token objections were however raised by Austria, which would have instead preferred to receive more Ottoman territories in the Balkans , a region which for a long time had been coveted by the Habsburgs. The Russians also withdrew from Moldavia away from

7950-459: The official language of Poland, Polish is also spoken as a second language in eastern Germany , northern Czech Republic and Slovakia , western parts of Belarus and Ukraine as well as in southeast Lithuania and Latvia . Because of the emigration from Poland during different time periods, most notably after World War II , millions of Polish speakers can also be found in countries such as Canada , Argentina , Brazil , Israel , Australia ,

8056-613: The official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. In 2024, there were over 39.7 million Polish native speakers. It ranks as the sixth most-spoken among languages of the European Union . Polish is subdivided into regional dialects and maintains strict T–V distinction pronouns, honorifics , and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals. The traditional 32-letter Polish alphabet has nine additions ( ą , ć , ę , ł , ń , ó , ś , ź , ż ) to

8162-659: The others being Czech orthography and 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 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

8268-401: The palatal sounds / ɕ / , / ʑ / , / tɕ / , / dʑ / and / ɲ / 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

8374-402: The partition, in addition to Poniński, included Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł and the bishops Andrzej Młodziejowski , Ignacy Jakub Massalski , and Primate of Poland Antoni Kazimierz Ostrowski , who occupied high positions in the Senate of Poland . The senators who protested were threatened by the Russians (represented by Ambassador Otto von Stackelberg), who declared that in the face of refusal

8480-425: The partition. In another sign of their influence, the next meeting of the Senate saw the senators from the annexed territories denied participation (those denied participation included the bishop of Inflanty , the voivode of Ruthenia and the voivode of Witebsk ). When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative

8586-511: The previously Polish-ruled territories in the east that were annexed by the USSR , resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking communities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. To the east of Poland, the most significant Polish minority lives in a long strip along either side of the Lithuania - Belarus border. Meanwhile,

8692-483: The proposed guarantor, now had a convenient excuse to intervene in Polish politics at will. With a reduced army, removal of Saxon troops and the right to form confederations, the nobility and the king had less power to fight one another – or, not coincidentally, to resist outside forces. Russian troops remained in the Commonwealth for two years, supporting opposition to Augustus, and Russia soon reached an agreement with other powers to put an end to further attempts at

8798-464: The reduction of power of the hetmans (Polish military commanders in chief), as well as the occurrence of a bad harvest and some Polish-French negotiations, to stir opposition to Augustus. The nobles, spurred by Russian promises of support, formed the Tarnogród Confederation on 26 November 1715. The Confederation's marshal was Stanisław Ledóchowski . The Tarnogród Confederation was only

8904-413: The reform and strengthening of the Commonwealth. Thus the Silent Sejm is regarded as one of the first precedents for the Russian Empire dictating Polish internal policy, and a precursor to the partitions of Poland , which erased the Commonwealth from world maps by 1795. Historian Norman Davies wrote that this Sejm "effectively terminated the independence of Poland and Lithuania". The system created by

9010-580: The regular number of representatives – only about 102–111 (sources vary) deputies, the lowest number in the history of the Commonwealth – arrived in Warsaw, where they were joined by about 36 senators and ministers. Most of the deputies from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not attend this Sejm. Russia was represented by Otto von Stackelberg , Prussia by Gedeon Benoit and Austria by Karl Reviczky . The Sejm began on 19 April (although some preliminary discussions took place days before). It took place in Warsaw and

9116-472: The rise of the Russian Empire (1721), the growing conflict between Augustus II and the Polish nobility ( szlachta ) was used by the powerful Russian Tsar Peter the Great , victor of the Great Northern War. At the time Russia was not yet strong enough to conquer and absorb the Commonwealth outright, nor could it easily and openly assume control of it, despite the Commonwealth's dysfunctional politics;

9222-540: The same applies to the first and second person plural past tense endings -śmy, -ście , although this rule is often ignored in colloquial speech (so zro bi liśmy 'we did' should be prescriptively stressed on the second syllable, although in practice it is commonly stressed on the third as zrobi li śmy ). These irregular stress patterns are explained by the fact that these endings are detachable clitics rather than true verbal inflections: for example, instead of ko go zoba czy liście? ('whom did you see?') it

9328-410: The series of affricate and palatal consonants that resulted from four Proto-Slavic 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 occurs between voiced – voiceless consonant pairs in certain environments, at

9434-441: The settlement; this claim is made by Jacek Jędruch and Norman Davies , but rejected by Jacek Staszewski and explicitly noted as erroneous in the edited work by Zbigniew Wójcik . The Silent Sejm marked the end of Augustus II's attempts to create an absolute monarchy in Poland; he subsequently focused his efforts on securing the succession of his son to the Polish throne. While some beneficial reforms were passed (such as

9540-500: The six of standard Polish) and (in the northern dialects) phonemic word stress, an archaic feature preserved from Common Slavic times and not found anywhere else among the West Slavic languages . However, it was described by some linguists as lacking most of the linguistic and social determinants of language-hood. Many linguistic sources categorize Silesian as a regional language separate from Polish, while some consider Silesian to be

9646-494: The stress normally becomes regular. For example, uniwersytet ( /uɲiˈvɛrsɨtɛt/ , 'university') has irregular stress on the third (or antepenultimate) syllable, but the genitive uniwersytetu ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛtu/ ) and derived adjective uniwersytecki ( /uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛt͡skʲi/ ) 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

9752-482: The throne till two others had held it in the interim. A trade treaty was signed between the Commonwealth and Prussia, unfavorable to the Commonwealth. The Partition cut off the Commonwealth's access to the Baltic Sea , and the state had no choice but to accept the high tariffs imposed by Prussia. The Sejm also created two notable institutions: the Permanent Council , a main governmental body in continuous operation, and

9858-489: The various new acts, and was finally ended on 11 April 1775. a The picture shows the rulers of the three countries that participated in the partition tearing a map of Poland apart. The outer figures demanding their share are Catherine II of Russia and Frederick II of Prussia . The inner figure on the right is the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II , who appears ashamed of his action (although in reality he

9964-563: The vowel i is changed to y , e.g. Syria , Sybir , synchronizacja , Syrakuzy . The following table shows the correspondence between the sounds and spelling: Digraphs and trigraphs are used: Similar principles apply to / kʲ / , / ɡʲ / , / xʲ / and /lʲ/ , 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

10070-446: The whole capital of Warsaw would be destroyed. Other threats included executions, confiscation of estates, and increase of territory subjected to partition. Some senators were arrested and exiled to Siberia . The partitioning powers (in particular, Russia) demanded that the Sejm pass further reforms, with the intent of strengthening their power over the Commonwealth. The original commission was allowed to work till January 1774, extending

10176-573: The winter of 1770–71 as a representative of the Prussian court at Saint Petersburg . As Austria had annexed 13 towns in the Hungarian Szepes region in 1769 (violating the Treaty of Lubowla ), Catherine II of Russia and her advisor General Ivan Chernyshyov suggested to Henry that Prussia claim some Polish land, such as Ermland. After Henry informed Frederick of the proposal, the Prussian monarch suggested

10282-443: The word, the phoneme / x / can be spelt h or ch , the phoneme / ʐ / can be spelt ż or rz , and / u / 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 /rz/ , not / ʐ / , in words like zamarzać ("freeze") and in

10388-472: Was able to interpret existing laws in the sphere of administration, and provided the Commonwealth with a continuous governing body that operated between the Sejms and was not affected by the liberum veto. The Permanent Council was led by the king, had 36 members elected, half from each chamber of the Sejm, and ruled by majority vote (the king decided in case of a tie). The previously powerful ministers were placed under

10494-511: Was available save passive submission to their will. Warsaw was de facto a garrison of the foreign powers, with their forces commanded by the Austrian (or Russian, sources vary) general Abram Romanius (Abraham). On 19 April the Senate agreed to call for the Sejm to convene. Preparations for the Sejm were not easy. Bishops Krasiński and Kajetan Sołtyk argued vocally against it. At least 32 sejmiks (regional parliaments) that were to elect deputies to it were disrupted. Eventually less than half of

10600-503: Was guaranteed by the Russian Empire, giving it another pretext to interfere in Commonwealth politics if the legislation was changed. Corruption was rampant. Deputies awarded themselves various starostwa and other privileges. Various fraudulent deals were made that channeled funds intended for government institutions, such as the Commission of National Education, to the pockets of the deputies and their allies. The commission ended its deliberations on 27 March 1775. The Sejm resumed, accepting

10706-588: Was more of an advocate of the partition, and it was his mother, Maria Theresa , who was critical of the partition). On his left is the beleaguered Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski , who is experiencing difficulty keeping his crown on his head. Above the scene the angel of peace trumpets the news that civilized 18th-century sovereigns have accomplished their mission while avoiding war. The drawing gained notoriety in contemporary Europe, with bans on its distribution in several European countries. b The 1773 papal bull Dominus ac Redemptor had ordered

10812-467: Was ratified by its signatories on 22 September 1772. After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Poniatowski and the Sejm approve their action. The King appealed to the nations of Western Europe for help and tarried with the convocation of the Sejm. The European powers reacted to the partition with indifference; only a few voices – like that of Edmund Burke  – were raised in protest. While

10918-437: Was reformed, with hetmans being held more accountable to the Sejm. The size of the army was ordered to be increased to 30,000 (this goal would not be met). Szlachta (a Polish noble class) were officially allowed to deal in trade and crafts (previously, engaging in "urban" professions risked losing one's noble status). The severity of serfdom was discussed, but no significant reforms were passed in that field. The new legislation

11024-564: Was rejected by Frederick. Although for a few decades (since the times of the Silent Sejm ) Russia had seen a weak Poland as its own protectorate, Poland had also been devastated by a civil war in which the forces of the Bar Confederation attempted to disrupt Russian control over Poland. The recent Koliyivschyna peasant and Cossack uprising in Ukraine also weakened Poland's position. Further,

11130-441: Was said to have barred the doors, torn his shirt, and asked other deputies to murder him rather than Poland – became widely known, and was immortalized in a painting by Jan Matejko . By 24 April the few vocal opponents, such as Rejtan, had lost, the confederation was joined by the King and the Sejm elected a committee of thirty to deal with the various matters presented (primarily the partitioners' demands, but also some reforms to

11236-579: Was signed in Vienna . A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in Saint Petersburg on 6 February 1772. Early in August Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. On 5 August, the three parties signed the treaty on their respective territorial gains at the Commonwealth's expense. The partition treaty

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