History of the Czech language
Encyclopedia
The Czech language
developed at the close of the 1st millennium
from common West Slavic
. Until the 19th century, it was known as Bohemian.
, and to a lesser extent also Old Church Slavonic, were used as literary languages.
The oldest changes in Proto-Slavic were common to all West-Slavic dialect
s. Above all, it was the palatalization
of velar
ch > š (vьšь, all), while s (vьsь) developed in the East and South-Slavic dialects.
Some other changes took place during the 10th century:
The disappearance of the odd yers strengthened the phonological
contrast of palatalized (softened) and unpalatalized consonant
s, and resulted in alterations of epenthetic e and 0 (null-phoneme
). The contrast of the vowel quantity (length) was also strengthened. The depalatalization of consonants preceding e and ä took place later, thus the frequency of occurrence of palatalized consonants was lowered, but it strengthened the palatalization contrast at the same time. The change of ’ä > ě and ä > a took place at the end of the 12th century.
The vowels were front (ä, e, i, ě) and back (a, o, u), and the front ones had their back variants (allophone
s), and vice versa. The consonants were divided into hard (b, p, v, m, t, d, r, l, n, c, z, s, k, g, ch) and soft – palatal or palatalized (t’, d’, ř, l’, n’, c’, s’, z’, č, š, ž, j, ň). This division was cardinal for the later development.
In the nominal declension
, the traditional division according to the word-stem ending was progressively replaced by the gender principle (masculine, feminine and neuter) There were also three grammatical number
s: singular, dual and plural.
The dual is also applied in verb conjugations. The past is expressed by aorist
, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect. The future tense
is not fixed yet, the present tense is often used instead. The contrast of perfective and imperfective aspects is not fully developed yet, there are also biaspectual and no-aspectual verbs. The Proto-Slavic supine
was used after verbs of motion, but it was replaced by the infinitive
but it has a remainder: the contemporary infinitive ending -t originates from the supine.
The oldest known Czech sentences were noted to the foundation charter of the Litoměřice
chapter at the beginning of the 13th century:
Pauel dal geſt ploſcoucih zemu
Wlah dalgeſt dolaſ zemu iſuiatemu ſcepanu ſeduema duſnicoma bogucea aſedlatu
(in transcription: Pavel dal jest Ploškovcích zem’u. Vlach dal jest Dolás zem’u i sv’atému Ščepánu se dvěma dušníkoma Bogučeja a Sedlatu.)
The texts were written in primitive orthography which used the letters of the Latin alphabet
without any modification also for sound
s which were strange to the Latin
language. The letter c, for instance, denoted k, c as well as č. It yielded to some ambiguity which was serious especially in proper names. Later during the 13th century, the digraph orthography becomes to appear, although not systematically. Combinations of letters (digraphs
) are used for recording Czech sounds, e.g. rs for ř.
Large changes take place in the phonology
. Front and back variants of vowels are removed, e.g. ’ä > ě (ie) and ’a > ě (v’a̋ce > viece, more, p’äkný > pěkný, nice). In the morphology, these changes deepened the differences between hard and soft noun types (sedláka, farmer (gen.) x oráčě, plougman (gen.); města, towns x mor’ě, seas; žena, woman x dušě, soul) as well as verbs (volati, to call x sázěti; to plant out). The hard syllabic l changed to lu (Chlmec > Chlumec, dĺgý > dlúhý, long), as opposite to soft l’. The change of g to ɣ, and later to h, had been in progress since the 12th century.
Later assibilation
of palatalized alveolars (t’ > c’, d’ > dz’ and r’ > rs’) occurred. However, c’ and dz’ disappeared later, but the change of r’ > rs’ > ř became permanent.
The morphology differs little from the Proto-Czech in this period.
After 1340, the later digraph orthography was applied: ch = ch; cz = c or č; g = j; rs, rz = ř; s = s or š; ss = s or š; w = v; v = u; z = z or ž, syllable-final y = j; ie, ye = ě. The graphemes i and y remain interchangeable. The punctuation
mark is sometimes used in various shapes. Its function is to denote pauses.
The changes of ’u > i (kl’úč > klíč, key) and ’o > ě (koňóm > koniem, (to) horses). The so-called main historical depalatalization, initiated in the 13th century, was finished. Palatalized (softened) consonants either merged with their hard counterparts or became palatal (ď, ť, ň). The depalatalization did not temporarily concern hard and soft l, which merged to one middle l later at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. In this context, the phoneme ě [ʲe] disappeared. The short ě either changed to e or was dissociated to j + e (pěna [pjena], foam) before labial consonants in the pronunciation. The long ě was diphthong
ized to ie (chtieti, to want, čieše, goblet, piesek, sand). At the same time, the long ó was diphthongized to uo (sól > suol, salt).
In pronunciation, regressive assimilation of voice was enforced (with the exception of h, ř and v). The voicedness became the main contrastive feature of consonants after the disappearance of palatalization. The original pronunciation of v was probably bilabial
(as preserved in some Eastern-Bohemian dialect in syllable-final positions: diwnej, peculiar, stowka, a hundred), but in the 14th century, the articulation was adapted to the unvoiced labiodental
f. Prothetic v- has been added to all words beginning o- (voko instead of oko, eye) in the Bohemian dialects since this period.
In morphology, the future tense of imperfective verbs was fixed. The type budu volati (I will call) became preferred to other types (chc’u volati, I want to call, jmám volati, I have to call, and budu volal, I will called). The contrastive feature of (im)perfectiveness was also stabilized. The perfectivization function of prefix
es and the imperfectivization function of suffix
es are applied. As a consequence of this, aorist and imperfect are disappearing little by little and are replaced by the perfect (now called preterite
, since it became the only past tense in Czech). The periphrastic passive voice is formed.
's preaching activity to the beginning of Czech humanism
. The number of literary language users enlarges. Czech fully penetrates the administration.
Around 1406, a reform of the orthography was suggested in De orthographia bohemica, a work attributed to Jan Hus – the so-called diacritic
orthography. For recording of soft consonants, digraphs are replaced by a dot above letters. The acute is used to denote the vowel length. The digraph ch and the grapheme w are preserved. The interchangeability of the graphemes i and y is cancelled. The suggestion is a work of an individual person, therefore this graphic system was accepted slowly, the digraph orthography was still in use.
As a consequence of the loss of palatalization, the pronunciation of y and i merged. This change resulted in the diphthongization of ý > ej in Common Czech
(the widespread Bohemian interdialect). There are also some other changes in this period: the diphthongization of ú > ou (written au, the pronunciation was probably different than today), the monophthongization of ie > í (miera > míra, measure) and uo > ú. The diphthong uo was sometimes recorded as o in the form of a ring above the letter u, which resulted in the grapheme ů (kuoň > kůň). The ring has been regarded as a diacritic mark denoting the length since the change in pronunciation.
The contrast of animateness in masculine inflection is not still fully set, as it is not yet applied to animals (vidím pána = I see a lord; vidím pes = I see a dog). Aorist and imperfect have disappeared from literary styles before the end of the 15th century.
(1579 – 1593), the first complete Czech translation of the Bible from the original languages by the Unity of the Brethren
, became the pattern of the literal Czech language. The orthography was predominantly diacritic, the dot in soft consonants was replaced by the caron
which was used in č, ď, ň, ř, ť, ž. The letter š was mostly written in the final positions in words only, the digraph ʃʃ was written in the middle. The grapheme ě became used in the contemporary way. The vowel length was denoted by the acute accent, except for ů developed from original ó. The long í was doubled ii for the technical reasons, later it was denoted as ij, and finally as j. pronounced [j] was recorded as g or y, pronounced [g] was sometimes recorded by the grapheme ǧ. The double w was preserved, the simple v denoted the word-initial u. The diphthong ou was denoted as au. The hard y was always written after c, s, z (cyzý, strange). The complicated syntax, influenced by Latin texts, required some improvement of the punctuation. However, the comma
was used according to pauses in pronuciation, not the syntax. The full stop
, the colon
, the question mark
and the exclamation mark
are used. The first grammars are published for typographers' purposes.
In the pronunciation, the change of ý > ej was established, but it occurred in lesser prestige style text only. The diphthongization of ú > ou was also stabilized (but au still remained in graphics). In initial positions, it was used in lesser prestige or specialized styles only. Written mě [mje] starts to be pronounced as [mňe]. The change of tautosyllabic aj > ej (daj > dej, give (imperative), vajce > vejce, egg) took place, but it was not applied in heterosyllabic aj (dají, they will give, vajec, egg – gen. pl.).
In morphology, the differentiation of animate and inanimate masculines was completed (vidím psa rather than the earlier vidím pes).
. The function of the literary language was limited; it left the scientific field first, the discerning literature later, and the administration finally. Prestigious literary styles were cultivated by Czech expatriates abroad. The zenith and, simultaneously, the end of the florescence of prestigious literary styles are represented by the works of Jan Amos Komenský
.
The changes in the phonology and the morphology of the literary language ended in the previous period. Only the spoken language continued its development in the country. As a consequence of strong isolation, the differences between dialects were deepened. Especially, the Moravian and Silesian dialects developed divergently from Common Czech.
Printed documents used the same orthography as in the previous period. Only the two kinds of l are not differentiated any more. The semicolon
occurs as a punctuation mark for better and clear organization of excessive and complicated complex sentence
s. Digraphs with irregular elements of diacritics are still used in hand-written texts.
The first ideas of the National Revival were in so-called defences of the Czech language. The most likely first such work is Dissertatio apologenetica pro lingua Slavonica, praecipue Bohemica ("The defence of the Slavic language, of Czech in particular"), written in Latin by Bohuslav Balbín
.
) caused migration of country inhabitants to towns. It enabled the implementation of the ideas of the Czech national awakeners for the renewal of the Czech language. However, the people's language and literary genres of the previous period were strange to the enlightened
intelligentsia. The literary language of the end of the 16th century and of Komenský’s work became the starting point for the new codification of literary Czech. Of the various attempts at codification, Josef Dobrovský
’s grammar was ultimately generally accepted. Purists'
attempts to cleanse the language of Germanism
s (both real and fictitious) had been occurring by that time. The publication of Josef Jungmann
’s five-part Czech-German Dictionary (1830–1835) contributed to the renewal of Czech vocabulary. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Czech scientists, Czech scientific terminology was created.
Step by step, the orthography was liberated from the relics of the Brethren orthography. According to the etymology, si, zi or sy, zy came to be written, cy was replaced by ci. Antiqua was introduced instead of fractura in printing, and it led to the removal of the digraph ʃʃ and its replacement by the letter š. The long í replaced j, and j replaced g (gegj > její, her). In the 1840s, the double w was replaced by v and ou replaced the traditional au. Thus, the orthography became close to its contemporary appearance. According to the German model, the punctuation leaves the pause principle and respects the syntax.
The artistic literature often resorted to archaisms and did not respect the natural development of the spoken language. This was due to attempts to reach the prestige literal styles.
published the first Rules of Czech Orthography, which also contained an overview of the morphology. These rules still preferred older forms in doublets.
During the 20th century, elements of the spoken language (of Common Czech especially) penetrated literary Czech. The orthography of foreign words were Germanized with respect to their German pronunciation, especially writing z instead of s and marking the vowel length (e.g. gymnasium > gymnázium, grammar school). Social changes after World War II (1945) led to gradual diminishing of differences between dialects. Since the second half of the 20th century, Common Czech elements have also been spreading to regions previously unaffected, as a consequence of the media's influence.
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
developed at the close of the 1st millennium
1st millennium
File:1st millennium montage.png|From left, clockwise: Depiction of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity; The Colosseum, a landmark of the once Roman Empire; Gunpowder is invented during the latter part of the millennium, in China; Chess, a new board game, takes on popularity across the globe;...
from common West Slavic
West Slavic languages
The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group that includes Czech, Polish, Slovak, Kashubian and Sorbian.Classification:* Indo-European** Balto-Slavic*** Slavic**** West Slavic***** Czech-Slovak languages****** Czech...
. Until the 19th century, it was known as Bohemian.
Proto-Czech
The oldest development stage of Czech as a separate language (end of the 10th century – c. mid 12th century). Linguists recognize its reconstructed version only, since there are no written documents from this period. LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and to a lesser extent also Old Church Slavonic, were used as literary languages.
The oldest changes in Proto-Slavic were common to all West-Slavic dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. Above all, it was the palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
of velar
Velar consonant
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
ch > š (vьšь, all), while s (vьsь) developed in the East and South-Slavic dialects.
Some other changes took place during the 10th century:
- the disappearance and vocalization of yerYerThe letter yer of the Cyrillic alphabet, also spelled jer or er, is known as the hard sign in the modern Russian and Rusyn alphabets and as er golyam in the Bulgarian alphabet...
s according to the Havlík’s Yer LawHavlík's lawHavlík's law is a Slavic rhythmic law dealing with the reduced vowels in Proto-Slavic. It is named for the Czech scholar Antonín Havlík , who determined the pattern in 1889. While Havlík's law was a precursor to the loss of the jers, that process is part of the individual history of the various...
(bъzъ > bez, bъza > bza (gen.), later bezu, elder, lilac); - the contraction of groups vowelVowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
+ j + vowel (dobriji > dobr’í, dobroje > dobré, good); - the denasalization of nasalNasalizationIn phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth...
ę [ẽ] > ä and ǫ [õ] > u.
The disappearance of the odd yers strengthened the phonological
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
contrast of palatalized (softened) and unpalatalized consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s, and resulted in alterations of epenthetic e and 0 (null-phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
). The contrast of the vowel quantity (length) was also strengthened. The depalatalization of consonants preceding e and ä took place later, thus the frequency of occurrence of palatalized consonants was lowered, but it strengthened the palatalization contrast at the same time. The change of ’ä > ě and ä > a took place at the end of the 12th century.
The vowels were front (ä, e, i, ě) and back (a, o, u), and the front ones had their back variants (allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s), and vice versa. The consonants were divided into hard (b, p, v, m, t, d, r, l, n, c, z, s, k, g, ch) and soft – palatal or palatalized (t’, d’, ř, l’, n’, c’, s’, z’, č, š, ž, j, ň). This division was cardinal for the later development.
In the nominal declension
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
, the traditional division according to the word-stem ending was progressively replaced by the gender principle (masculine, feminine and neuter) There were also three grammatical number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
s: singular, dual and plural.
The dual is also applied in verb conjugations. The past is expressed by aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect. The future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
is not fixed yet, the present tense is often used instead. The contrast of perfective and imperfective aspects is not fully developed yet, there are also biaspectual and no-aspectual verbs. The Proto-Slavic supine
Supine
In grammar a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages.-In Latin:In Latin there are two supines, I and II . They are originally the accusative and dative or ablative forms of a verbal noun in the fourth declension, respectively. The first supine ends in -um. It has two uses. The first...
was used after verbs of motion, but it was replaced by the infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
but it has a remainder: the contemporary infinitive ending -t originates from the supine.
Early Old Czech
The period from the half of the 12th century to the end of the 13th century. The first literal documents – bohemica (Czech names in foreign-language texts), glosses (Czech translations of words and phrases written additionally into foreign-language texts) and notes (unrelated to original texts) – originate from this period.The oldest known Czech sentences were noted to the foundation charter of the Litoměřice
Litomerice
Litoměřice is a town at the junction of the rivers Elbe and Ohře in the north part of the Czech Republic, approximately 64 km northwest of Prague....
chapter at the beginning of the 13th century:
Pauel dal geſt ploſcoucih zemu
Wlah dalgeſt dolaſ zemu iſuiatemu ſcepanu ſeduema duſnicoma bogucea aſedlatu
(in transcription: Pavel dal jest Ploškovcích zem’u. Vlach dal jest Dolás zem’u i sv’atému Ščepánu se dvěma dušníkoma Bogučeja a Sedlatu.)
The texts were written in primitive orthography which used the letters of the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
without any modification also for sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
s which were strange to the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
language. The letter c, for instance, denoted k, c as well as č. It yielded to some ambiguity which was serious especially in proper names. Later during the 13th century, the digraph orthography becomes to appear, although not systematically. Combinations of letters (digraphs
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
) are used for recording Czech sounds, e.g. rs for ř.
Large changes take place in the phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
. Front and back variants of vowels are removed, e.g. ’ä > ě (ie) and ’a > ě (v’a̋ce > viece, more, p’äkný > pěkný, nice). In the morphology, these changes deepened the differences between hard and soft noun types (sedláka, farmer (gen.) x oráčě, plougman (gen.); města, towns x mor’ě, seas; žena, woman x dušě, soul) as well as verbs (volati, to call x sázěti; to plant out). The hard syllabic l changed to lu (Chlmec > Chlumec, dĺgý > dlúhý, long), as opposite to soft l’. The change of g to ɣ, and later to h, had been in progress since the 12th century.
Later assibilation
Assibilation
In linguistics, assibilation is the term for a sound change resulting in a sibilant consonant. It is commonly the final phase of palatalization.-Romance languages:...
of palatalized alveolars (t’ > c’, d’ > dz’ and r’ > rs’) occurred. However, c’ and dz’ disappeared later, but the change of r’ > rs’ > ř became permanent.
The morphology differs little from the Proto-Czech in this period.
14th century
In the 14th century , Czech began to penetrate various literal styles. Official documents in Czech exist at the end of the century. The digraph orthography is applied. The older digraph orthography: ch = ch; chz = č; cz = c; g = j; rs, rz = ř; s = ž = š; w = v; v = u; zz = s; z = z; ie, ye = ě; the graphemes i and y are interchangeable. The vowel length is not usually denoted, doubled letters are used rarely. Obligatory regulations did not exist. This is why the system was not always applied precisely.After 1340, the later digraph orthography was applied: ch = ch; cz = c or č; g = j; rs, rz = ř; s = s or š; ss = s or š; w = v; v = u; z = z or ž, syllable-final y = j; ie, ye = ě. The graphemes i and y remain interchangeable. The punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
mark is sometimes used in various shapes. Its function is to denote pauses.
The changes of ’u > i (kl’úč > klíč, key) and ’o > ě (koňóm > koniem, (to) horses). The so-called main historical depalatalization, initiated in the 13th century, was finished. Palatalized (softened) consonants either merged with their hard counterparts or became palatal (ď, ť, ň). The depalatalization did not temporarily concern hard and soft l, which merged to one middle l later at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. In this context, the phoneme ě [ʲe] disappeared. The short ě either changed to e or was dissociated to j + e (pěna [pjena], foam) before labial consonants in the pronunciation. The long ě was diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
ized to ie (chtieti, to want, čieše, goblet, piesek, sand). At the same time, the long ó was diphthongized to uo (sól > suol, salt).
In pronunciation, regressive assimilation of voice was enforced (with the exception of h, ř and v). The voicedness became the main contrastive feature of consonants after the disappearance of palatalization. The original pronunciation of v was probably bilabial
Bilabial consonant
In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
(as preserved in some Eastern-Bohemian dialect in syllable-final positions: diwnej, peculiar, stowka, a hundred), but in the 14th century, the articulation was adapted to the unvoiced labiodental
Labiodental consonant
In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
f. Prothetic v- has been added to all words beginning o- (voko instead of oko, eye) in the Bohemian dialects since this period.
In morphology, the future tense of imperfective verbs was fixed. The type budu volati (I will call) became preferred to other types (chc’u volati, I want to call, jmám volati, I have to call, and budu volal, I will called). The contrastive feature of (im)perfectiveness was also stabilized. The perfectivization function of prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es and the imperfectivization function of suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es are applied. As a consequence of this, aorist and imperfect are disappearing little by little and are replaced by the perfect (now called preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
, since it became the only past tense in Czech). The periphrastic passive voice is formed.
Hussite period
The period of the 15th century from the beginning of Jan HusJan Hus
Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...
's preaching activity to the beginning of Czech humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
. The number of literary language users enlarges. Czech fully penetrates the administration.
Around 1406, a reform of the orthography was suggested in De orthographia bohemica, a work attributed to Jan Hus – the so-called diacritic
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
orthography. For recording of soft consonants, digraphs are replaced by a dot above letters. The acute is used to denote the vowel length. The digraph ch and the grapheme w are preserved. The interchangeability of the graphemes i and y is cancelled. The suggestion is a work of an individual person, therefore this graphic system was accepted slowly, the digraph orthography was still in use.
As a consequence of the loss of palatalization, the pronunciation of y and i merged. This change resulted in the diphthongization of ý > ej in Common Czech
Common Czech
Common Czech is a colloquial variant of the Czech language. It is usually defined as an interdialect used in common speech in Bohemia and western parts of Moravia . Common Czech is not codified, but some of its elements can get into the standard language...
(the widespread Bohemian interdialect). There are also some other changes in this period: the diphthongization of ú > ou (written au, the pronunciation was probably different than today), the monophthongization of ie > í (miera > míra, measure) and uo > ú. The diphthong uo was sometimes recorded as o in the form of a ring above the letter u, which resulted in the grapheme ů (kuoň > kůň). The ring has been regarded as a diacritic mark denoting the length since the change in pronunciation.
The contrast of animateness in masculine inflection is not still fully set, as it is not yet applied to animals (vidím pána = I see a lord; vidím pes = I see a dog). Aorist and imperfect have disappeared from literary styles before the end of the 15th century.
Humanistic period
The period of the mature literary language from the 16th to the beginning of the 17th century. The orthography in written texts is not still unified, digraphs are used predominantly in various forms. After the invention of book-printing, the so-called Brethren orthography stabilized in printed documents. The Bible of KraliceBible of Kralice
The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into the Czech language. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in the town of Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had six volumes and was published between the years 1579 and 1593...
(1579 – 1593), the first complete Czech translation of the Bible from the original languages by the Unity of the Brethren
Unity of the Brethren
The Unity of the Brethren is a Christian denomination whose roots are in the pre-reformation work of priest and philosopher Jan Hus, who was martyred in 1415.-History in Bohemia:...
, became the pattern of the literal Czech language. The orthography was predominantly diacritic, the dot in soft consonants was replaced by the caron
Caron
A caron or háček , also known as a wedge, inverted circumflex, inverted hat, is a diacritic placed over certain letters to indicate present or historical palatalization, iotation, or postalveolar pronunciation in the orthography of some Baltic, Slavic, Finno-Lappic, and other languages.It looks...
which was used in č, ď, ň, ř, ť, ž. The letter š was mostly written in the final positions in words only, the digraph ʃʃ was written in the middle. The grapheme ě became used in the contemporary way. The vowel length was denoted by the acute accent, except for ů developed from original ó. The long í was doubled ii for the technical reasons, later it was denoted as ij, and finally as j. pronounced [j] was recorded as g or y, pronounced [g] was sometimes recorded by the grapheme ǧ. The double w was preserved, the simple v denoted the word-initial u. The diphthong ou was denoted as au. The hard y was always written after c, s, z (cyzý, strange). The complicated syntax, influenced by Latin texts, required some improvement of the punctuation. However, the comma
Comma (punctuation)
The comma is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or...
was used according to pauses in pronuciation, not the syntax. The full stop
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
, the colon
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
, the question mark
Question mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
and the exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
are used. The first grammars are published for typographers' purposes.
In the pronunciation, the change of ý > ej was established, but it occurred in lesser prestige style text only. The diphthongization of ú > ou was also stabilized (but au still remained in graphics). In initial positions, it was used in lesser prestige or specialized styles only. Written mě [mje] starts to be pronounced as [mňe]. The change of tautosyllabic aj > ej (daj > dej, give (imperative), vajce > vejce, egg) took place, but it was not applied in heterosyllabic aj (dají, they will give, vajec, egg – gen. pl.).
In morphology, the differentiation of animate and inanimate masculines was completed (vidím psa rather than the earlier vidím pes).
Baroque period
The period from the second half of the 17th century to the second third of the 18th century was marked by confiscations and emigration of the Czech intelligentsia after the Battle of White MountainBattle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 30,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
. The function of the literary language was limited; it left the scientific field first, the discerning literature later, and the administration finally. Prestigious literary styles were cultivated by Czech expatriates abroad. The zenith and, simultaneously, the end of the florescence of prestigious literary styles are represented by the works of Jan Amos Komenský
Comenius
John Amos Comenius ; ; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) was a Czech teacher, educator, and writer. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren, and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica...
.
The changes in the phonology and the morphology of the literary language ended in the previous period. Only the spoken language continued its development in the country. As a consequence of strong isolation, the differences between dialects were deepened. Especially, the Moravian and Silesian dialects developed divergently from Common Czech.
Printed documents used the same orthography as in the previous period. Only the two kinds of l are not differentiated any more. The semicolon
Semicolon
The semicolon is a punctuation mark with several uses. The Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder established the practice of using the semicolon to separate words of opposed meaning and to indicate interdependent statements. "The first printed semicolon was the work of ... Aldus Manutius"...
occurs as a punctuation mark for better and clear organization of excessive and complicated complex sentence
Complex sentence
A complex sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.-Examples:* I ate the meal that you cooked....
s. Digraphs with irregular elements of diacritics are still used in hand-written texts.
The first ideas of the National Revival were in so-called defences of the Czech language. The most likely first such work is Dissertatio apologenetica pro lingua Slavonica, praecipue Bohemica ("The defence of the Slavic language, of Czech in particular"), written in Latin by Bohuslav Balbín
Bohuslav Balbín
Bohuslav Balbín was a Czech writer and Jesuit, the "Bohemian Pliny," whose Vita beatae Joannis Nepomuceni martyris was published in Prague, 1670,...
.
National Renaissance
The period from the 1780s to the 1840s. The abolition of serfdom in 1781 (by Joseph IIJoseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
) caused migration of country inhabitants to towns. It enabled the implementation of the ideas of the Czech national awakeners for the renewal of the Czech language. However, the people's language and literary genres of the previous period were strange to the enlightened
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
intelligentsia. The literary language of the end of the 16th century and of Komenský’s work became the starting point for the new codification of literary Czech. Of the various attempts at codification, Josef Dobrovský
Josef Dobrovský
Josef Dobrovský was a Bohemian philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech national revival.- Life & Work :...
’s grammar was ultimately generally accepted. Purists'
Purism
Purism was a form of Cubism advocated by the French painter Amédée Ozenfant and the architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret . Purism rejected the decorative trend of cubism and advocated a return to clear, ordered forms that were expressive of the modern machine age as documented in their 1918 book...
attempts to cleanse the language of Germanism
Germanism
Germanism can mean or be confused with any of the following:* German loan words and expressions in English* Pan-Germanism* Germanisation* Germanism...
s (both real and fictitious) had been occurring by that time. The publication of Josef Jungmann
Josef Jungmann
Josef Jungmann was a Bohemian poet and linguist, and a leading figure of the Czech National Revival. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the modern Czech language.-Life:Jungmann was the sixth child of a cobbler. In his youth, he wanted to become a priest...
’s five-part Czech-German Dictionary (1830–1835) contributed to the renewal of Czech vocabulary. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Czech scientists, Czech scientific terminology was created.
Step by step, the orthography was liberated from the relics of the Brethren orthography. According to the etymology, si, zi or sy, zy came to be written, cy was replaced by ci. Antiqua was introduced instead of fractura in printing, and it led to the removal of the digraph ʃʃ and its replacement by the letter š. The long í replaced j, and j replaced g (gegj > její, her). In the 1840s, the double w was replaced by v and ou replaced the traditional au. Thus, the orthography became close to its contemporary appearance. According to the German model, the punctuation leaves the pause principle and respects the syntax.
The artistic literature often resorted to archaisms and did not respect the natural development of the spoken language. This was due to attempts to reach the prestige literal styles.
Modern Czech
Literary Czech has not been an exclusive matter of the intellectual classes since the 1840s. Journalism was developing and artistic works got closer to the spoken language, especially in syntax. In 1902, Jan GebauerJan Gebauer
Jan Gebauer was a significant Czech expert on Czech studies and one of the most renowned Czech scientists of all times. His scientific work was influenced by the methods of positivism.-Biography:...
published the first Rules of Czech Orthography, which also contained an overview of the morphology. These rules still preferred older forms in doublets.
During the 20th century, elements of the spoken language (of Common Czech especially) penetrated literary Czech. The orthography of foreign words were Germanized with respect to their German pronunciation, especially writing z instead of s and marking the vowel length (e.g. gymnasium > gymnázium, grammar school). Social changes after World War II (1945) led to gradual diminishing of differences between dialects. Since the second half of the 20th century, Common Czech elements have also been spreading to regions previously unaffected, as a consequence of the media's influence.
See also
- Orthographia bohemicaOrthographia bohemicaDe orthographia bohemica is an anonymously-authored Latin work from the early 15th century, in which the Czech language was given a codified spelling.The reformer Jan Hus is often suspected to be the work's author.-Provenance:...
- Czech alphabetCzech alphabetThe Czech alphabet is a version of the Latin script, used when writing Czech. Its basic principles are "one sound, one letter" and the addition of diacritical marks above letters to represent sounds alien to Latin...
- Czech declensionCzech declensionCzech declension describes the declension, or system of grammatically-determined modifications, in nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals in the Czech language. There is a system of 7 cases in Czech...
- Czech orthographyCzech orthographyCzech orthography is a system of rules for correct writing in the Czech language.The Czech orthographic system is diacritic. The háček is added to standard Latin letters for expressing sounds which are foreign to the Latin language...
- Czech phonologyCzech phonologyThis article discusses the phonological system of the Czech language- Vowels :There are 10 vowel phonemes in Czech. 5 of them are short and 5 are long. The duration of the long vowels is approximately double in comparison with their short counterparts. Long and short vowels form minimal pairs. The...
- Czech verbCzech verbCzech conjugation is a term denoting Czech language verb conjugation, or system of grammatically-determined modifications, in verbs in the Czech language....
- Czech word orderCzech word orderThe Czech word order is relatively free. However, the Czech language belongs to the SVO type.- Main principles of the Czech word order :The Czech word order is said to be free. This means that the individual parts of a sentence need not necessarily be placed in a firmly given sequence. The word...