Editing Polonization (section)

=== Lithuanian and Belarusian lands ===
A complicated linguistic situation developed on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polish speakers used a "Kresy" variant of Polish ([[Northern Borderlands dialect]]) that retained archaic Polish features as well as many remnants of [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] and some features of [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]].{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=42}} Linguists distinguish between official language, used in the Church and cultural activities, and colloquial language, closer to the speech of the common people. Inhabitants of a significant part of the [[Vilnius region]] used a variant of the Belarusian language, which was influenced mainly by Polish, but also by Lithuanian, Russian and Jewish. This language was referred to as "simple speech" ({{langx|pl|mowa prosta}}), and was treated by many as a dialect variety of Polish. In fact, it was a kind of "mixed language" serving as an interdialect of the cultural borderland.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=43}} This language became a gateway to the progressive Slavization of the Lithuanian population.

The knowledge of Slavonic intedialect made it easier for Lithuanians to communicate with their Slavic neighbors, who spoke Polish, Russian, or Belarusian. The attractiveness and cultural prestige of the Polish language and its common use in church caused the process to continue and lead to the full adoption of the Polish language. Among the Belarusian population, the usage of Polish was limited to official relations, while at home, the local language was still spoken.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=44}} As a result, the Lithuanian language retreated under the pressure of Polish faster than Belarusian. This led to the formation of a compact Polish language area between the Lithuanian and Belarusian language areas, with Vilnius as the center.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=45}} After some time, especially in the Vilnius region, ignorance of the Polish language was considered a lack of cultural savvy. In ceremonial situations it was advisable to use Polish. This gradually limited the use of simple speech to everyday life situations, and gave rise to a sense of contempt for it and Belarusian as the language of work, cursing, but also more emotional and impetuous.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=54}}

In the Belarusian territories, the Polonization processes were intensified by the struggle of the Russian authorities against the [[Catholic Church]]es. The liquidation of the [[Ruthenian Uniate Church|Uniate Church]] and forced conversions to Orthodoxy provoked resistance among the local community. The Russian authorities opposed the Catholic Church, called the "Polish faith", to the Orthodox Church, called the "Russian faith". As a result, referring to oneself as a "Pole" was the same as referring to oneself as a "Catholic."{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=57}} After Latin, Polish was considered the second language of worship, so attempts to replace it with Russian or local languages were resisted by local population.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=57–59}}

The spread of Polish language and culture, and eventually Polish national consciousness, was fostered not only by its prevalence among the upper classes, but also among the impoverished, declassed nobility. Their representatives regarded the nobility's traditions, inextricably linked with Polishness, as a marker of prestige, so they cultivated their attachment to the Polish national tradition. And due to the lack of an impassable property and cultural barrier, they exerted influence on the surrounding peasantry.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=48–49}} Paradoxically, this was fostered by the anti-Polish and anti-[[szlachta]] Russian policy, which gave relief to peasants for the purchase of land. As a result, the property gap between the petty gentry and the peasantry decreased, which resulted in the appearance of mixed marriages, which in turn led to the spread of Polish culture among the peasants.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=49–51}}

The emergence of the [[Lithuanian National Revival|Lithuanian national movement]] in the 1880s slowed down the process of Polonization of the ethnically Lithuanian population, but also cemented a sense of national identity among a significant portion of the Polish-speaking Lithuanian population. The feeling of a two-tier Lithuanian-Polish national identity, present throughout the period, had to give way to a clear national declaration. Previously, every inhabitant of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been considered a Lithuanian, but in the face of the emergence of the Lithuanian national movement, which considered only those who spoke Lithuanian as Lithuanians, Polish-speaking residents of Lithuania more and more often declared themselves as Poles.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=56}} The dispute over the auxiliary language of services (Polish or Lithuanian) in the churches on the eastern border of ethnic Lithuania, which heated up from the end of the nineteenth century, influenced the formation of Polish consciousness and the adoption of the Polish language among those believers whose ancestors had abandoned Lithuanian for plain speech.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=78–79}}

The Lithuanian historian Vaidas Banys has said the following about Polonization within the Catholic Church of Lithuania in the 19th century:<blockquote>"The 'Polonomaniacs' announced that the Catholic Church in Lithuania is a Polish church and no other national manifestations are welcome in it. Lithuanian religious services were obstructed, while there was whistling during Lithuanian singing and even fistfights. One event resounded throughout all of Lithuania in 1901, when a jubilee cross with a Lithuanian inscription was thrown away from [[Šėta]]'s church. So-called 'Lithuanomaniacs' ({{Langx|pl|litwomany}}) priests were punished, moved to poorer parishes, or humiliated in their ministry."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jakubauskienė |first=Rasa |date=2021-06-04 |title=Kėdainiai – (ne)draugiškas miestas religinėms mažumoms? |url=https://rinkosaikste.lt/kedainiai-nedraugiskas-miestas-religinems-mazumoms/ |website=rinkosaikste.lt |language=lt}}</ref></blockquote>