Department of Language Cultivation

Contact:

Letenská 123/4
118 00 Praha 1

About the Department of Language Cultivation:

The Department of Language Cultivation (DLC)’s longstanding areas of focus are the theory and practice of language cultivation and language consultation services. Its work is based on language cultivation theory and standard language theory as defined by the Prague school. The principles of language cultivation theory also form the basis of the Department’s practical work, which includes language popularisation, language consultation services and codification. The Department staff members publish academic articles about language standards, codification, etc. The DLC is the only department at the CLI that systematically addresses spelling on both the theoretical and practical levels.

The CLI language consultation centre, which is part of the DLC, provides language users with comprehensive language consultation services, including professional language expertise. This work brings the DLC linguistic and sociolinguistic information about the current needs of expression among lay and professional language users, which subsequently informs both research into language cultivation theory and enables more complete and precise description of language in the development of language handbooks. After an extensive consultation computer database was developed, a website enabling responses to questions from the public was launched. Alongside a column titled Interesting questions, an Internet language handbook has been available to the public since 2009. This handbook is the first language guide of its kind. It is composed of a dictionary section which contains more than 109,000 entries, and an explanatory section, which includes explanations of language phenomena that people repeatedly ask about in the language consultation centre. In 2009, the Internet language handbook was awarded a Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports First Class Medal “for improving conditions for teaching of the native language in all types of schools”.

To popularise language, DLC staff work with a number of dailies and journals, give lectures for the lay and professional public and lead courses for state administration departments and other institutions. They also work with the organisation Cermat on preparation of Czech language state school-leaving exams.

The Department of Language Cultivation edits the peer-reviewed professional journal Our Speech (“Naše řeč”). This journal is dedicated in particular to language cultivation issues and is a discussion forum for current linguistics topics.

Our current work:

Language cultivation theory and practice

Project manager: PhDr. Kamila Smejkalová, Ph.D.
The Department of Language Cultivation addresses the theory and practice of language cultivation and carries out scientific research. It is the only Czech studies institution in the Czech Republic that provides comprehensive language consultation services and language expertise to a diverse spectrum of user groups, by which it continuously obtains information about how language is used and about the current needs of expression of people in the Czech language community. This information is a valuable source of linguistic and sociolinguistic data and a suitable starting point for theoretical language cultivation studies.

Our Speech (“Naše řeč”) journal editorial office

Our Speech is a peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to Czech as a native language. It has been published since 1916. It contains Czech, English and occasionally Slovak articles about the contemporary Czech language, development of the language, as well as Czech grammar and vocabulary, spelling issues, Czech stylistics in general and the language of specific literature and text linguistics; it also looks at standard Czech in relation to other language forms. The key focus is providing insight into issues of Czech language cultivation and language cultivation in general and consideration of the developmental dynamics of Czech and the issues of usage, standards and codification. The journal serves to spark discussion about current issues in linguistics. It is published five times per year.

Editor in chief: PhDr. Kamila Smejkalová, Ph.D.
Acting editor in chief: Mgr. Martin Beneš, Ph.D.

Executive editor: PhDr. Hana Mžourková, Ph.D.
Editors: Mgr. Jakub Sláma, PhDr. Ivana Svobodová