On the Variations of the Polish Language in the Białystok Region

Abstract

As regards the studies so far on the variations of the Polish language spoken in the Białystok region, various scholars together with the author put forward the following classification:

I. The primary Polish including 1) General Polish, a) standard Polish, a basic source for bilingual people, and b) regional Polish used by more and less educated people; 2) folk Polish with a) Mazurian dialects from Masovia and Podlasia, b) dialects from Suwałki and Sejno, c) Polish dialects under the influence of Byelorussia and the Ukraine; II. The Polish language secondarily acquired by the bilingual people of the Early-Slavonic origin. It represents the following variants: 1. general-Polish, 2. regional language, 3. folk language.