Some linguists appear to be quite fond of the changes that Czech has been undergoing. Lišková argues that due to the proliferation of social media in the Czech society, millions of Czechs have succeeded in creating their own distinct online language, highly influenced by English in terms of both vocabulary and grammar. While some argue that this represents a deterioration of the Czech language, Lišková argues that this is actually not true – when people join the diverse discourse communities on the Internet, they are forced to use language creatively to communicate ideas to their audience in interesting and effective ways.5 This argument is supported by the theories posited by discourse analysts who suggest that “depending on how writers construct their ‘ideal’ readers, they use different aspects of language to maintain readers’ interest and to make the text relevant to their readers’ needs and goals. This means that writers – like speakers – also design their discourse for their projected recipients.”6 As such, some believe that social media and the language change it has brought about are not a threat and actually help enrich Czech and improve its users’ ability to work with their language.
What is more, some experts are also raising concerns over the fact that Czech is a language with difficult, complicated grammar that is likely undergoing said transformations in part also because its speakers attempt to simplify it. Bouška argues that there is nothing wrong with changing the seemingly rigid prescriptive rules that some wish to hold on to, as a complicated language that is difficult for its speakers ends up being quite useless. In recent years, the “pure” version of Czech has been accessible to just a few members of the educated elite, and anything that diverges from this model has been labeled as wrong and inferior.7 I agree with Bouška that those who hold these viewpoints are not making credible claims because as linguists maintain, labeling any variant of a given language as inferior or superior is not acceptable, especially since they are all equally good at communicating meaning.
In opposition to these views, which are largely sympathetic to the recent changes, stands the conviction of the Communist Party that Czech is being destroyed and is rapidly deteriorating. This led the members of this party to propose a legislation that would make it obligatory for media outlets to use only the prescriptively correct version of Czech, free of all anglicisms and other “internationalisms.”2 This proposal was, however, rejected by the Parliament.8
In addition to these politicians, we also hear similar arguments made by linguists: the educator and linguist Kostečka argues that Czechs are losing their mother tongue, their identity, their unique perspective on the world, and the ability to express clearly their thoughts in their native language. And to him, it seems like they don’t even care. Based on his own research, Kostečka created a list of ca. 250 Czech words that current high schoolers no longer use and understand, emphasizing the perceived deterioration of Czech and its speakers.9