I.

Introduction

Polish Language, a member of the Western group of the Slavic branch of Indo-European languages and thus closely related to Czech, Slovak, and the Sorbian language found in Germany (see Slavic Languages). It is the language spoken by most of the inhabitants of Poland and by several million native speakers in the United States; Russia and the other successor states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); Canada; and elsewhere. Polish dialects include Little Polish and Silesian (spoken in the south) and Mazovian and Great Polish (spoken in the north). Kashubian, or Cassubian, also heard in the north, is often treated as a dialect of Polish, although it evolved as a separate West Slavic language.