LINGUISTIC IDENTITYLanguage as skills for life and employability.

POLISH LANGUAGE

Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) 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, who have 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.

POLISH ALPHABET

Poland is one of the most linguistically homogeneous European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their mother tongue. Elsewhere, ethnic Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine.

When in 1795 Poland lost independence, They introduced a ban on the use of the Polish language. It was a period of Germanization (the introduction of German language and culture) and rusyfikacji (the introduction of Russian language and culture) Polish nation. Brave people didn't gave up and in hiding, spoke in Polish language and read Polish books.

During the occupation, was created one of the largest Polish works: "Pan Tadeusz" . It was written by Adam Mickiewicz.

The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the border changes and population transfers that followed World War II. Poles settled in the "Recovered Territories" in the west and north, which had previously been mostly German-speaking. Some Poles remained in the previously Polish-ruled territories in the east which were annexed by the USSR, resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking minorities in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled or emigrated from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. Meanwhile the flight and expulsion of Germans, as well as the expulsion of Ukrainians and resettlement of Ukrainians within Poland, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity.

DIALECTS OF THE POLISH LANGUAGEIn Polish linguistic tradition there are seven general dialectal groups of the Polish language, each primarily associated with a certain geographical region. The dialects (dialekt in Polish) are often further subdivided into subdialectal groups called gwara or region.The regional differences correspond mainly to old ethnic or tribal divisions from around a thousand years ago; the most significant of these in terms of numbers of speakers are Greater Polish (spoken in the west), Lesser Polish (spoken in the south and southeast), Mazovian (Mazur) spoken throughout the central and eastern parts of the country, and Silesian language in the southwest. Mazvian shares some features with the Kashubian language

Greater Polish dialect: Descending from the Western Slavic language once

spoken by the Polans Krajna dialect (Polish: gwara krajniacka) Tuchola dialect (Polish: gwara tucholska) Kociewie dialect (Polish: gwara kociewska) Chełmno-Dobrzyń dialect (Polish: gwara chełmińsko-

dobrzyńska) Cuyavian dialect (Polish: gwara kujawska) Chojno (Southern Greater Poland) dialect

(Polish: gwara chazacka)

Mazovian dialect Descending from the language of the Mazovians Białystock dialect (Polish: gwara białostocka) Suwałki dialect (Polish: gwara suwalska) Warmia dialect (Polish: gwara warmińska) Kurpie dialect (Polish: gwara kurpiowska) Masurian dialect (Polish: gwara mazurska) Malbork-Lubawa dialect (Polish: gwara malborsko-

lubawska) Ostróda dialect (Polish: gwara ostródzka) Near Mazovian dialect (Polish: gwara mazowsze

bliższe) Far Mazovian dialect (Polish: gwara mazowsze dalsze)

Lesser Polish dialect Descending from the language of the Vistulans, is

the most numerous dialectal group in modern Poland. It includes the following sub-groups

Łowicz dialect (Polish: gwara łowicka) Sieradz-Łęczyca dialect (Polish: gwara sieradzko-

łęczycka) Holy Cross Mountains dialects (Polish: gwary

świętokrzyskie), often associated with the ancient tribe of the Lędzianie

Grębów dialect (Polish: gwara lasowska) Orawa dialect (Polish: gwara orawska) Spisz dialect (Polish: gwara spiska) Podhale dialect (Polish: gwara podhalańska)

Independent dialects or languagesTwo of the dialects are often considered to be independent languages:Kashubian Kashubian (Polish: język kaszubski, dialekt kaszubski), refers to the language

spoken in the region of Eastern Pomerania, often by descendants of the ancient tribe of Pomeranians.

Slovincian dialect (Polish: gwara słowińska), which became extinct in the early twentieth century, last speakers lived in the village of Kluki by the Łeba Lake.

SilesianSilesian (Polish: język śląski, dialekt śląski), descending from the language of the Slavic tribe of Ślężanie in modern times spoken in the regions of Upper Silesia. Cieszyn Silesian dialect (Polish: gwara cieszyńska), dialect of Cieszyn Silesia Lach dialect Polish: gwary laskie), surviving dialect is the Lach speech (Polish:

gwary laskie), associated with the Czech language. Niemodlin Silesian dialect Gliwice Silesian dialect Jabłonków Silesian dialect Kluczbork Silesian dialect Prudnik Silesian dialect Opole Silesian dialect Sulkovian Silesian dialect

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from "Englaland" [sic] and their language was called "Englisc" - from which the words "England" and "English" are derived.

OLD ENGLISH (450-1100 AD)

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100-1500)

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

MODERN ENGLISH

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1500-1800)

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

LATE MODERN ENGLISH (1800-PRESENT)

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

HISTORY OF GERMAN LANGUAGE

ORIGINS The history of the language begins with the High German

consonant shift during the migration period, separating Old High German dialects from Old Saxon. The earliest evidence of Old High German is from scattered Elder Futhark inscriptions, especially in Alemannic, from the 6th century AD; the earliest glosses (Abrogans) date to the 8th; and the oldest coherent texts (the Hildebrandslied, the Muspilli and the Merseburg Incantations) to the 9th century. Old Saxon at this time belongs to the North Sea Germanic cultural sphere, and Low Saxon was to fall under German rather than Anglo-Frisian influence during the Holy Roman Empire.

As Germany was divided into many different states, the only force working for a unification orstandardization of German for several hundred years was the general wish of writers to be understood by as many readers as possible.

MOERN GERMAN IN GERMANY When Martin Luther translated the Bible (the New Testament in 1522

and the Old Testament, published in parts and completed in 1534), he based his translation mainly on the bureaucratic standard language used in Saxony (sächsische Kanzleisprache), also known as Meißner-Deutsch (German from the city of Meissen). This language was based on Eastern Upper and Eastern Central German dialects and preserved much of the grammatical system of Middle High German (unlike the spoken German dialects in Central and Upper Germany, which had already at that time begun to lose the genitive case and the preterite tense). Initially, copies of the Bible had a long list of glosses for each region, which translated words unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics rejected Luther's translation initially and tried to create their own Catholic standard (gemeines Deutsch) — which, however, differed from "Protestant German" only in some minor details. It took until the middle of the 18th century to create a widely accepted standard, thus ending the period of Early New High German.

Until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language: in urban northern Germany, the local dialects of Low Saxon or Low German were spoken; Standard German, which was markedly different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Prescriptive pronunciation guides considered northern German pronunciation as the standard. However, the actual pronunciation of Standard German varies from region to region.

IN THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE German was the language of commerce and government in the

Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, irrespective of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague (German: Prag) and Budapest (Buda, German: Ofen), were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain. Others, such as Pozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. A few cities remained mainly non-German. However most cities, such as Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb (German: Agram), and Ljubljana (German: Laibach), were primarily German during this time, although surrounded by territory where other languages were spoken.

SWITZERLAND In Switzerland, a number of local

dialects are spoken in the German-speaking cantons, but standard German is used as a written language.

STANDARDISATION In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a complete

standardisation of the German language in its written form while the Deutsche Bühnensprache (literally, German stage language) had established rules for German three years earlier.

Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German (often called Hochdeutsch ("high German")) which is understood in all areas where German is spoken.

The first dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, the 16 parts of which were issued between 1852 and 1860, remains the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language. In 1860, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, this was declared the standard definition of the German language. Official revisions of some of these rules were not issued until 1998, when a controversial spelling reform was officially promulgated by governments of all German-speaking countries.

LANGUAGES IN OUR SCHOOL

Students in our school have to study English and German or Russian. It is compulsory.

In our school are extra classes Spanish, French and Esperanto.

LANGUAGES AND EMPLOYMENT

Nowadays knowledge of foreign languages is very important. employers look for employees, who know very uncommon languages like Japanese and Chinese. Knowledge English language is basis.

„LIMITS OF MY LANGUAGE ARE THE LIMITS OF MY WORLD”