Silesian language and nationality in censuses, and the dispute over the act

Censuses are the only nationwide surveys in which one can answer what language is spoken at home and what nationality one belongs to, and the answers are voluntary. Results concerning Silesia are constantly cited in public debate. Below are gathered the census figures and the positions of the parties in the dispute over the status of Silesian, without assessment and without forecasts.

How to read census data

The entry on the Silesian ethnolect cautions that census results can be interpreted in different ways, for several reasons: answers are voluntary and subjective, the methodology of data collection varies, and it is also hard to define objectively what exactly "speaking Silesian" means. The figures therefore need not reflect actual language practices. Two questions must also be distinguished: about the language used in contacts at home, and about national and ethnic affiliation. The first concerns speech, the second identity, and a person may answer them independently.

Language used at home

In Poland Silesian could be declared as a language of home contacts for the first time in the 2002 census. The numbers of declarations were as follows:

• 2002 census - 56,643 people; it was the fourth most frequently indicated language in Poland, after Polish, German and English,
• 2011 census - 529,377 people, an increase of more than tenfold,
• 2021 census - 467,145 people, of whom 54,957 as the only language, 409,266 together with Polish and 2,922 people together with other languages.

The 2021 census thus allowed more than one language to be indicated, and a decisive majority of people declaring Silesian made use of this possibility.

Nationality and ethnic affiliation

Silesian nationality is not legally recognised in Poland, but censuses record declarations. For the Polish part of Silesia the figures are as follows:

• 2002 census - 173,153 people, including 148.5 thousand in the Silesian Voivodeship and 24.2 thousand in the Opole Voivodeship,
• 2011 census - 809 thousand people, of whom 362 thousand as the only nationality, 56 thousand as the first with a second declared, and 391 thousand as the second nationality or ethnic community; in the Silesian Voivodeship alone 700 thousand declarations,
• 2021 census - 585.7 thousand people, of whom 231.8 thousand as the first identification and 353.9 thousand as the second.

After the 2002 census some organisations raised objections: the Silesian Autonomy Movement considered the data understated and pointed to unreliability of the enumerators. This is the position of that organisation, not a statistical finding.

A distinction is made here between sole, first and second declarations, and the methodology of data collection has changed, so comparing figures from different years requires caution.

Across the border

Silesian nationality was also declared by residents of the Czech Republic. In the Czech census of 2001 this was 10,878 people, in 2011 12,231 people, and in 2021 31,301 people, of whom 12,451 as the only nationality. In 1991, in the census in Czechoslovakia, Silesian nationality was declared by 44,446 people, mainly in Opava Silesia. In the 2021 census only 1,805 people in the whole of Czechia indicated Silesian as their mother tongue; it is observed that the real vitality of Silesian varieties does not translate there into census declarations.

The dispute over the status of the language: positions of the parties

The entry “Silesian ethnolect” describes the status of Silesian as a subject of political dispute and numerous ideological debates, also among the users themselves. It sets out the arguments of both sides:

• for the term dialect, the close kinship with Polish is cited, especially with the Lesser Poland and Greater Poland varieties,
• for the distinctness of the language, sociolinguistic factors are pointed to: the development of writing in the 21st century, codification efforts and a sense of distinctness expressed by a significant number of Silesians.

In linguistics there are no unambiguous, universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects. A considerable part of the arguments of both sides is formulated around two criteria proposed by Heinz Kloss, distance from other varieties (Abstand) and degree of functional development (Ausbau). The Polish Language Council, in an opinion of 2011, indicated that features of Silesian also occur in Greater Poland and Lesser Poland varieties, that is, that it does not meet the Abstand criterion. On the other hand, some linguists, including Jolanta Tambor and Henryk Jaroszewicz, present arguments for the distinctness of Silesian as an Ausbausprache.

Timeline of efforts for regional language status up to 2024

The Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and on the Regional Language has been in force since 2005. The first efforts to give Silesian the status of a regional language were made in 2007. Subsequent attempts ended in failure for many years. In 2011 a recommendation to recognise Silesian as a language was issued by the monitoring body of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In 2014 a citizens' bill supported by 140 thousand people reached the Sejm and was rejected; similar bills were rejected in 2018 and 2020.

On 26 April 2024 the Sejm, by 236 votes to 186 with five abstentions, passed an amendment recognising Silesian as a regional language. President Andrzej Duda vetoed it on 29 May 2024. The entry notes that the justifications of the veto referred to the opinion of the Polish Language Council of 2011. The state of further legislative work changes and is not described here.