Genitiv třech, čtyřech – kodifikace a úzus

The genitive of the Czech cardinal numerals 3 and 4, in addition to its regular forms 'tri', 'ctyri', has also had the analogous forms 'trech', 'ctyrech' for many decades. The latter forms appeared in Mluvnice cestiny 2 (Komárek et al. 1986) within the paradigms for these numerals; nevertheless, their value was (roughly) indicated as informal. Among the changes in the codification of Czech that took place in 1993/1994, they have been presented as unmarked. However, having explored the corpora SYN2000 and SYN2005, we cannot support this classification. The percentage of these forms in published written texts ('trech' 1.52% and 'ctyrech' merely 0.59%) is far too small to have any importance. This article offers an analysis of occurrences in both corpora, situates the newly accepted forms in the system of Czech declension, and reflects on the mechanisms by which certain forms may become codified. These mechanisms may not always correspond with broadly shared notions and claims.