In two national censuses, made in the years 2002 and 2011, Silesians emerged as the largest
minority occurring in the territory of the Polish Republic. Those researches show also that
Silesians are the largest group that use its own ethnolect in domestic relations. In 2002,
belonging to that minority declared 173 153 persons, and the use of Silesian ethnolect in
domestic relations: 56 643 people. In 2011, the membership of this group declared more
than 800 000 people, and the use of regional language more than 500 000. The problem
lies in the fact that the Polish state does not recognize the existence of this minority in legal
terms. This in turn results in increase of tensions between the center and periphery.
Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to show efforts of the Silesian minority for a legal
empowerment of the group, in particular, shows most advanced activities for the statutory
recognition of the Silesian ethnolect as a regional language
