Czech Diglossia: Dismantling or Dissolution?

Abstract

This contribution looks at two trends in the evolution of Czech diglossia over the past 100 years that can be described as the ‘dismantling’ and ‘dissolution’ of the diglossic language situation. Dismantling concerns official attempts to reach a ‘rapprochement’ between H and L by modifying the prescribed description of H to incorporate elements from L. Dissolution concerns unofficial changes resulting from societal upheaval and technological advances that have caused a blurring between public and private space and between the formal and informal spheres. The evident retreat of the H code, ‘Literary Czech,’ calls into question the extent to which Ferguson’s classic definitions still apply in the Czech lands. Official changes have attempted to maintain the functionality and prestige of H, but have frequently merely enriched H with previously proscribed features of the dominant L code, ‘Common Czech.’ Unofficial changes have seen L expand into domains that were previously the exclusive preserve of H. Attitudes characteristic of diglossic language situations continue to sustain the distinction, while the actual functional uses of the two varieties have already departed substantially from a diglossic language situation.