This paper presents the results of our research. Its aim was to explore the wide field of understanding archaisms or rare expressions by 11 to 15-year-old school-age children. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to several Czech elementary and secondary/high schools owing to the help and co-operation of six local teachers. The data obtained by the questionnaire were qualitatively analyzed and interpreted in terms of the strategies our respondents used to understand the unfamiliar or less familiar words. The issue of reading comprehension was also touched upon. At the same time, quantitative aspects of the relation between the level of understanding and certain variables, namely the age and gender of the respondents, were revealed.

Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages The presented dissertation aims to bring new information concerning the classification of the Eastern Iranian languages. Instead of commonly accepted two branches of Eastern Iranian (Northern and Southern) it seems that there can be classified at least five branches of Eastern Iranian languages, moreover, Avestan can form its own branch, which possibly may include also Khwārezmian. The main issue of the presented thesis was to show archaisms and innovations of the language group in focus. Such task is an issue for numerous studies so the main attention was paid to historical development of Sogdian and Yaghnōbī - two closely related Eastern Iranian languages. Linguistic proximity of Sogdian and Yaghnōbī has been observed shortly after discoveries of the first Sogdian documents in Chinese Turkestan on the beginning of the 20 th century, for a long time it has been supposed that Yaghnōbī is a modern descendent of Sogdian. By analysis of phonology, grammar and vocabulary of both languages I tried to find clues that may answer this question. From diachronic view there is no much difference between Sogdian and Yaghnōbī, individual changes may be interpreted as "dialectal", but there is one phenomenon that influenced different...

Der Rückgriff auf die Vergangenheit ist ein sich wiederholendes Phänomen der antiken Kulturgeschichte. Zur Umsetzung des Konzeptes Archaismus bedarf es eines Aussageträgers. In diesem Zusammenhang nimmt die Bildkunst eine entscheidende Rolle ein. Die Bildwerke waren auf sozialpolitische Konzepte ausgerichtet und dienten in ihrem Kontext als Aussageträger visueller Kommunikation. Jener Sachverhalt eröffnet die Frage nach einer Applikation des Konzeptes Archaismus im Kontext ptolemäischer Herrscherstatuen der Zeit um 330–30 v. Chr. Ziel des interdisziplinären Dissertationsvorhabens ist es, dreidimensionale Bildwerke ptolemäischer Herrscher in ein retrospektives Verhältnis zum rezipierten "historischen Vorbild" der altägyptischen Bildkunst zu bringen. Des Weiteren wird auf die Gegebenheit von Transferprozessen zur technischen Umsetzung eines zu rekonstruierenden Kopiervorganges Bezug genommen. Der zu untersuchende Zeitraum umfasst das Alte Reich um 2500 v. Chr. bis zum Ende der ptolemäischen Epoche um 30 v. Chr., der zu untersuchende Kulturraum Unter-, Mittel- und Oberägypten. / Recourse to the past is a recurring phenomenon in ancient cultural history. In order to realise the concept of archaism, a means of expression is required. In this context, pictorial art plays a decisive role. The pictorial works were orientated towards socio-political concepts and served as a vehicle for visual communication in their context. This fact opens up the question of an application of the concept of archaism in the context of Ptolemaic rulers' statues from the period around 330-30 B.C. The aim of the interdisciplinary dissertation project is to bring three-dimensional sculptures of Ptolemaic rulers into a retrospective relationship with the received “historical model” of ancient Egyptian pictorial art. Furthermore, reference will be made to the existence of transfer processes for the technical realisation of a copying process to be reconstructed. The period to be analysed comprises the Old Kingdom around 2500 BC to the end of the Ptolemaic period around 30 BC, the cultural area to be investigated Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt.