International scientific conference “The Philological Phenomenon of Petro Kostruba: A New Reading”

International scientific conference “The Philological Phenomenon of Petro Kostruba: A New Reading” (Lviv, May 22–23, 2025) represented a landmark in Slavic and Ukrainian philological studies. Focused on reinterpreting the intellectual legacy of Petro Kostruba—a pivotal figure in 20th-century Ukrainian linguistics and literary thought—it gathered scholars from seven countries.

The main objective of the conference was to provide a new interpretation of the scholarly legacy of Associate Professor Petro Kostruba, to bring him back into the academic discourse and to reactivate that part of his work that had been neglected by contemporary Ukrainian researchers. At the beginning of his academic career, his interests included issues of literary studies. Now Petro Kostruba is considered the founder of the Lviv phonological school.

The event was hosted by Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in collaboration with Shevchenko Scientific Society (Ukraine), University of Wrocław (Poland), St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia (Bulgaria), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany), University of Zagreb (Croatia), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

The defining features of the conference were (1) multinational participation: more than 120 scholars from Ukraine (Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod, Drohobych, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Khmelnytsky, Uman, Volodymyr, Dnipro, Odesa), Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia, and Croatia enriched the forum with cross-cultural insights; (2) hybrid Format (both in-person and online sessions expanded global accessibility); (3) interdisciplinary scope (the conference explored linguistics, dialectology, phonetics, syntax, translation studies, literary history, and pedagogical innovation; (4) archival and biographical emphasis (a roundtable offered archival revelations on Kostruba’s scholarly and pedagogical activities under Soviet repression); (5) cultural component (a chamber music performance and an architectural excursion anchored the academic program within Lviv’s cultural identity).

The conference featured eight thematic sections and a concluding roundtable:

1. “Phonetic Studies of Petro Kostruba and Contemporary Research” focused on articulatory, experimental, and theoretical phonetics within Kostruba’s legacy and current phonological trends.
2. “Dialect Phonetics through Synchronic and Diachronic Lenses” analyzed regional speech patterns from Middle Dnipro to Lemko dialects, exploring methods for mapping phonetic evolution.
3. “Syntactic Research and Contemporary Theories” addressed sentence structure and syntax pedagogy, highlighting Kostruba’s pioneering ideas in syntactic minimalism and elliptical constructions.
4. “History of the Ukrainian Literary Language” investigated historical texts and grammar development from the 16th to 20th centuries, emphasizing etymological and orthographic shifts.
5. “Contemporary Issues in Ukrainian Onomastics” explored personal names, microtoponyms, and cultural identifiers as mirrors of sociolinguistic processes and identity.
6. “Literary and Translation Legacy of Petro and Theofil Kostruba” reconstructed their literary critiques and key translations, including seminal works like The Tale of Igor’s Campaign and Herodotus’ Scythia.
7. “Linguopragmatics, Discourse, and Textual Studies” investigated stylistics and sociolinguistics, including war-time discourse, euphemisms, and gendered language in modern media.
8. “Terminology, Didactics, and Technological Innovations in Education” mapped developments in linguistic education, including textbook creation, law and language policy, and digital tools for foreign language teaching.

Roundtable Discussion “Petro Kostruba’s Fate as a Scholar and Teacher at Lviv University during Totalitarianism” – offered historical, archival, and memoir-based perspectives on his scholarly resistance, repression, and pedagogical legacy.

The conference not only reinforced Lviv University’s role as a center for historical linguistics and philological innovation but also symbolically reclaimed scholarly memory in times of cultural re-evaluation. It brought renewed attention to the intersections of linguistic identity, historical trauma, and scholarly resistance during the totalitarian era.

Revied by S. Buk, H. Tymoshyk