On May 5, 2026, an international scientific conference was held online at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine as part of the grant project “Language of the Ukrainian Army: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.” The event brought together scientists from institutions of the National Academy of Sciences, higher education institutions from Ukraine, the Republic of Austria, the Czech Republic, and servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. About half a hundred participants joined the conference.
The meeting was opened with an introductory speech by the director of the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, academic secretary of the Department of Literature, Language, and Art Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, head of the National Association of Ukrainian Studies and the Ukrainian Committee of Slavists, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Bohdan Azhniuk.
During the plenary session, Professor of the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of František Palacký in Olomouc (Czech Republic), Doctor of Philological Sciences Alla Arkhangelska delivered a report addressing issues of word-formation feminization of women’s names in the Ukrainian language of the military era, with attention to state language policy and the perception of military feminatives by contemporary Ukrainian society.
Leading Research Fellow of the Department of General Linguistics at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Serhii Yermolenko focused on the current tasks of Ukrainian linguistics during the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the scholar, the specificity of these tasks is due to the fact that the Russian Federation’s aggression includes both a linguistic and a metalinguistic (linguistic) component. Both components require linguistic response. One direction of this response is countering traditional and new Russian political narratives in linguistic discourse, both in the humanitarian-scientific sphere and in the so-called popular (or naive) linguistics.
Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Studies and Philosophy at the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Doctor of Philological Sciences Tetyana Yeshchenko analyzed the medical narrative of the war, thoroughly examined the problem of understanding how trauma is described using linguistic strategies in wartime conditions, how usual medical models of nomination and interpretation of disease transform, and how language performs not only informative but also therapeutic, adaptive, and ethical functions.
Head of the Communication Department of the 210th Separate Assault Regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Captain Maksym Prudeus analyzed the influence of language on the motivation to defend the homeland. The speaker emphasized the importance of national-patriotic education in modern conditions.
Leading Research Fellow of the Department of Ukrainian and Foreign Folklore at the M. T. Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Lesia Mushketyk analyzed the linguistic design of march songs and anthem songs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the space of popular culture. The researcher noted that march songs and anthems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now not only part of military traditions but also form a powerful layer of popular culture that shapes national identity. In the songs, folk traditions combine with modern urban slang and internet memes, creating a new musical identity.
Junior Research Fellow of the Department of General Linguistics at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics, Doctor of Philosophy Iryna Oleksandruk acquainted participants with the results of a sociolinguistic survey of servicemen conducted to analyze the current language situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The study was carried out within the scientific project “Language of the Ukrainian Army: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.”
During the sectional sessions, the following speakers presented, among others:
- Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Ukrainian Languages at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics, Candidate of Philological Sciences Lesia Azhniuk (on the topic “Narratives of the Military Era”);
- Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language, Literature, and Teaching Methods at the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding (Mykolaiv), Candidate of Philological Sciences Taras Kremin (“Interaction of State Institutions, Civil Society, and the Military: Priority Tasks and Prospects”);
- Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Research Fellow Oleksandr Skopnenko (“The Belarusian Language in the Ukrainian Military: Function, Role, Mission”);
- Senior Research Fellow of the Department of General Linguistics at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Philological Sciences Halyna Zymovets (“Heroes Do Not Die: New Commemorative Names in the Linguistic Landscape of Ukrainian Cities”);
- Scientific Secretary of the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Philological Sciences Alina Honcharenko (“Lexico-Semantic Field of Military Culture in I. Kotliarevsky’s ‘Aeneid’”);
- Professor of the Department of Romance-Germanic Philology and Foreign Literature at Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University (Vinnytsia), Doctor of Philological Sciences Tetyana Kosmeda (“Humor Culture – Shield and Tool of Ukrainian Servicemen’s Struggle”);
- Junior Research Fellow of the Department of General Linguistics at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Philosophy Mariya Ostapenko (“Research of Special Military Vocabulary in Memoirs of 21st Century Soldiers: Extralinguistic and Linguistic Aspects”);
- Junior Research Fellow of the Department of Romance, Germanic, and Baltic Languages at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Philosophy Serhii Tereshchenko (“Features of Pseudonyms of UPA Soldiers”);
- Junior Research Fellow of the Department of Ukrainian Languages at the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Iryna Holotova (“Ergonymy of Khmelnychchyna: Dynamics of Changes in Wartime Conditions”);
- Head of the Folklore Department at the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Lviv), Doctor of Philological Sciences Halyna Koval (“‘Bullets Fell Like Drizzling Rain, Fires Fell Like Bright Stars, Swords Fell Like Moons’: Symbolism of Weapons in Ukrainian Praise Songs”);
- Head of the Department of Screen and Stage Arts and Culturology at the M. T. Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Natalia Mekh (“Strategic Role of the Potential of Screen and Stage Arts in War Narratives: Contemporary Ukrainian Film Text”).
Conference participants also heard presentations from colleagues from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, National Aviation University of Kyiv, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ivan Franko Lviv National University, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro Polytechnic National Technical University, Khmelnytskyi National University, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University, National Institute for Strategic Studies, Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy (Lviv), Kyiv Institute of the National Guard of Ukraine, K. D. Ushynsky South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University, Kremenchuk Humanitarian-Technical Academy, University of Vienna (Austria).
Information from the O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
