Karazin Inspires: Linguistic Innovations by Oleksandr Potebnia

23 may 2025 year

We continue our “Karazin Inspires” series, and this time we’d like to introduce you to the achievements of Karazin scholars in the field of linguistics. And indeed, there is much to be impressed by.

Linguist Oleksandr Potebnia was one of the pioneers in this area: he was the first to combine philosophy, psychology, and linguistics in the study of thinking and culture.

He founded the psycholinguistic approach to language study, emphasizing the connection between language, thought, and emotions. Potebnia argued that language is not merely a mechanical tool, but a living, dynamic process that reflects a person’s inner world, experience, and emotions.