1964–2024
Iryna Farion
Linguist and member of parliament
The poster “Language is the foundation of your life” was dreamed up by a Lviv linguist who later taught Ukrainian on YouTube. Iryna Farion, a Lviv Polytechnic professor and Svoboda MP (2012–2014), repeatedly sparked major controversies. In 2024 she was shot dead in Lviv.
Key accomplishments
- Doctor of philology (2015); taught at Lviv Polytechnic National University from 1991 and was a professor in its Department of the Ukrainian Language from 2015
- Author of works on the history of the Ukrainian language, language norms and Ukrainian surnames, including the monograph The Social Status of the Old Ukrainian Language in the 14th–17th Centuries (2015)
- Member of the 7th Verkhovna Rada (2012–2014), elected in single-member district No. 116 in Lviv; chaired the subcommittee on higher education
- Chair of the supervisory board of the Petro Yatsyk International Ukrainian Language Competition (2015–2024)
- Borys Hrinchenko Prize (2008) and Ivan Ohiienko Prize (2016)
Language on posters
“Language is the foundation of your life” (2001), “The Ukrainian language: beauty and strength” (2007), “The word is a spiritual sword” (2012): the ideas for these language posters came from Iryna Farion. She was born in Lviv in 1964, graduated from Lviv University and from 1991 taught at Lviv Polytechnic. In 2015 she earned the higher doctorate in philology and became a professor in its Department of the Ukrainian Language.
Scholar and popularizer
Farion studied the history of the Ukrainian language, language norms and spelling. She wrote on Ukrainian surnames and on the language of Markiian Shashkevych and Ivan Puluj, published a monograph on Old Ukrainian in the 14th–17th centuries and a book on Stepan Bandera. From 2015 to 2024 she chaired the supervisory board of the International Ukrainian Language Competition named after the philanthropist Petro Yatsyk.
On the evening of 19 July 2024 Iryna Farion was shot dead outside her home in Lviv.
Debates and assessments
Farion was one of the most controversial public figures in Ukraine. Supporters saw her as an uncompromising defender of the Ukrainian language; critics saw a politician whose offensive remarks alienated Russian-speaking Ukrainians and harmed the cause of Ukrainization itself. She was criticised in particular for reproaching kindergarten children for the Russian forms of their names, and for saying that she could not call Russian-speaking soldiers Ukrainians. After those words Lviv Polytechnic dismissed her, but a court later reinstated her.
How she is remembered
Farion left scholarly works and teaching projects on the Ukrainian language. In Lviv there is now an Iryna Farion Street next to the main building of Lviv Polytechnic, and Ivano-Frankivsk has decided to name another street after her.
