Současná česká kultura
Contemporary Cech culture (the style of poetic and dramatic texts) and the culture / cultivation of language / speech

Summary/Abstract: This paper attempts to interrelate culture (as a set of values produced and received by a specific community, including its artistic and literary production) and language/speech culture/cultivation. Its point of departure is the classic hierarchy of styles, the differentiation between high style (which is associated with cultivated, and in Cech, exclusively standard language expression), middle and low style. Low style is characteried by the use of non-standard, slang and expressive means and vulgarisms, and currently extends into Cech literature; the style characteristics of which, in addition to the non-standard means listed above, are contributed to by a significant amount of English loanwords, trendy words and phrases (often from the media and advertising spheres). The use of all means of low style by the younger generation of Cech authors is motivated by critical attitudes towards the contemporary consumption-oriented society. This is documented in the paper through examples from two playwrights (David Drábek, Petr Koleèko) and two poets (Karel Škrabal, Jan Tìsnohlídek, Jr.). The critical orientation of the authors is directed toward the lifestyle of the society – it is, of course, a question, how to evaluate their work from the perspective of language culture/cultivation.

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