POLISH: a language of Poland

The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.

SIL code: PQL

ISO 639-1: pl

ISO 639-2: pol

Population	36,554,000 in Poland, 98% of the population (1986). Population total all countries 44,000,000 (1999 WA).
Region	Also spoken in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia (Europe), Slovakia, Ukraine, UAE, USA.
Alternate names	POLSKI, POLNISCH
Dialects	UPPER SILESIAN.
Classification	Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic.
Comments	National language. SVO. Roman script. Christian, Muslim. Bible 1561-1965.

Also spoken in:

Czech Republic

Language name	POLISH
Population	50,000 in Czech Republic.
Alternate names	POLSKI
Comments	Christian. Bible 1561-1965. See main entry under Poland.

Germany

Language name	POLISH
Population	241,000 in Germany.
Alternate names	POLSKI, POLNISCH
Comments	Christian. Bible 1561-1965. See main entry under Poland.

Israel

Language name	POLISH
Population	100,000 speakers out of 272,000 people of Polish origin (1992 H. Mutzafi).
Alternate names	POLSKI
Comments	All speakers use Hebrew as second language but prefer Polish. Many other people of Polish origin speak Yiddish or Hebrew as first or second language. Jewish. Bible 1561-1965. See main entry under Poland.

Romania

Language name	POLISH
Population	10,000 in Romania.
Alternate names	POLSKI
Comments	Christian. Bible 1561-1965. See main entry under Poland.

Slovakia

Language name	POLISH
Population	50,000 in Slovakia.
Alternate names	POLSKI
Comments	Christian. Bible 1561-1965. See main entry under Poland.