Context: In addition to a spoken standard and a closely related written standard, Czech has several regional dialects primarily used in rural areas by speakers less proficient in other dialects or standard Czech. During the second half of the twentieth century, Czech dialect use began to weaken. By the early 1990s dialect use was stigmatized, associated with the shrinking lower class and used in literature or other media for comedic effect. Increased travel and media availability to dialect-speaking populations has encouraged them to shift to (or add to their own dialect) standard Czech. Although Czech has received considerable scholarly interest for a Slavic language, this interest has focused primarily on modern standard Czech and ancient texts rather than dialects. Standard Czech is still the norm for politicians, businesspeople and other Czechs in formal situations, but Common Czech is gaining ground in journalism and the mass media.

Question: How many regional dialects does Czech have?
Answer: several

Question: Where are dialects of Czech commonly found?
Answer: rural areas

Question: What is dialect use associated with and thus stigmatized because of?
Answer: lower class

Question: What kind of scholarly interest has Czech received?
Answer: considerable

Question: What Czech dialect is gaining ground in journalism and the mass media?
Answer: Common

Question: What class was being a journalist associated with?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What were parodies of journalists used for?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What has increased among politicians and business people since 1990 so they are more well known locally?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: When did interest in studying ancient texts start to weaken?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What group became more prominent in the 1990's when people wanted to hear the news of the day?
Answer: Unanswerable