Abstract
The writer Karel Havlíček Borovský (1821-1856) used in his letters word order changes usual in standard Czech of the 19th century: different attribute placement in relation to the determined noun, final position of transgressives and infinitives in semiclauses, final position of finite verbs in clauses, inversion of the type infinitive - modal verb. They occur especially in passages in which the writer strove for esthetically impressive expression or higher bookish style.
In neutral communication the usual word order based on topic/focus articulation is employed. The archaic type and markedness of Havlíček's word order was confirmed by research in which most respondents modified the period word order according to the present day usage.