He studied Czech and English at the Faculty of Arts in Brno. From 1952, he worked at the Brno branch of the academic Institute of the Czech Language (ÚJČ), where he also served as its internal head. In 1969, he moved to the Faculty of Arts in Brno, where he held the position of vice-dean from 1972 and was dean from 1980 to 1989. Initially, he specialized mainly in Czech dialects (Aspekty dialektu, 1971), and he collaborated on the preparation of the Český jazykový atlas. Later, he increasingly focused on the literary language, its grammatical and lexical norms, and its stylistics (Dichotomie spisovnosti a nespisovnosti, 1986). He co-authored fundamental works in the field (Současná česká stylistika, 2003). He paid much attention to questions and problems of language culture and to the popularization of the results of linguistic work (Knížka o češtině, 1974). Gradually, the general linguistic and theoretical aspects of linguistics became more prominent in his work. Methodologically, he drew from the structural conception of language and functional linguistics, particularly deepening its sociolinguistic concept.

L.: (anonymous), in: Dialekt und Dialektologie, Wiesbaden 1980, 398–399; J. Balhar, ČJL 38, 1987–88, 464–467; M. Krčmová, SPFFBU A 36, 1988, 7–9 (and 10–14 bibliography); R. Večerka, NŘ 71, 1988, 158–161; M. Krčmová, JazA 30, 1993, 124–128; same, ČJL 48, 1997–98, 228–229; (supplement to the bibliography), SPFFBU A 46, 1998, 203–205; M. Krčmová, NŘ 81, 1998, 262–264; same, JazA 35, 1998, 61–65; J. Zeman, Češtinář 14/2, 2003–2004, 43–44; (supplement to the bibliography), SPFFBU A 51, 2003, p. 259; M. Krčmová, Bohemistyka 3, 2003, 279–281; same, Stylistika 12, 2003, 392–395; same, Universitas 36, 2003, 15–17; M. Krčmová – M. Křístek, SPFFBU A 52, 2004, 159–161 (there also 184–185 supplement to the bibliography); same, ČJL 54, 2003–2004, 145–147; same, SaS 65, 2004, 79–80; E. Minářová, NŘ 87, 2004, 44–45.