A unique fading language spoken by tens of people in a Polish village has been denied official minority status by the country’s president. Despite full backing of both chambers of parliament, right-wing head of state Karol Nawrocki vetoed the proposal that would support a growing interest to keep the language alive.
Wymysorys (Vilamovian in English) is masted by an estimated 10 to 30, mainly elderly people in the village of Wilamowice—located near Bielsko-Biała in the south of the country. A little more than a 100 people of the 3,000 inhabitants likely still understands the language.
UN rights for minorities
According to linguists, Wymysorys originates from the 13th Century and is a mixture of Germanic and Slavic languages. If officially recognised, language lessons and official administration in the minority language would be supported. According to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, UN member states—Poland included—are obligated to protect minority rights and provide opportunities for education in a minority language.
Kashubian
Poland has only one officially minority language, Kashubian (Kaszëbsczi or Kaszubski), spoken by almost 88,000 people in the north of the country. In his days, current Polish president’s predecessor Duda vetoed a parliament-backed bill to make Silesian (Śląski), spoken by 460,000 people in the southwest of Poland, official. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo of the Polish flag (public domain)