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Reference.org
Institute of the Czech Language
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<p>The Institute of the Czech Language is a scientific institution dedicated to the study of the <a href="/facts/Czech_language/ySvEftdh">Czech language</a>. It is one of the institutes of the <a href="/facts/Academy_of_Sciences_of_the_Czech_Republic/nue3cWk9">Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic</a>. Its headquarters are in <a href="/facts/Prague/txpRNTUE">Prague</a> and it has a branch in <a href="/facts/Brno/jRsKTI4s">Brno</a>. </p><p>The institute was created in 1946, by transformation of the former Office for the Czech Lexicon (<i>Kancelář Slovníku jazyka českého</i>), founded in 1911 by the former Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1953 it became a part of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and became a public research institution in 2007. </p><p>In the Czech Republic, the institute is widely accepted as the regulatory body of the Czech language. Its recommendations on <a href="/facts/Standard_language/1AV0uont">standard</a> <a href="/facts/Czech_language/ySvEftdh">Czech</a> (<i>spisovná čeština</i>) are viewed as binding by the educational system, newspapers and others, although this has no legal basis. </p><p>The institute's rich publishing activity has two main branches, firstly scientific monographies, magazines (<i>Naše řeč</i>, <i>Slovo a slovesnost</i>) and articles, that could be viewed as conversation between <a href="/facts/Czech_studies/m0c4yfuu">bohemists</a> themselves, discussing matters of the Czech language. Secondly, what could be considered output of these discussions, is a consistent set of rules on vocabulary, grammar and orthography. Of the recommendations published most weight carry those, to which the institute itself assigns "<a href="/facts/Codification_(linguistics)/RKRLAcyJ">codification</a> status": monolingual dictionaries of the Czech language, <i>Slovník spisovného jazyka českého</i> and <i>Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost</i>, and the orthography manual <i>Pravidla českého pravopisu</i>. The recommendations published in new editions of these are usually subsequently accepted by a ministry of education to be used in schools. The publication of new editions has often been a source of heated debate and national controversy, as recently as 1993. </p><p>There have been unsuccessful attempts to enshrine the position of the Czech language and its minders in legislation, akin to the <a href="/facts/Language_law_of_Slovakia/6NMyd7gX">Language law of Slovakia</a>. </p>