The department was formed based on the Department of the Ukrainian Language at the University of St. Volodymyr, which was organized more than 100 years ago (in the academic year 1917/18).The glorious milestones of the Department as a scientific and educational institution from the first decades are marked by the activities of such outstanding personalities as Academic A. Krymskyi, Assistant Professor, in the future – Professor, Minister of Education I.Ohiienko, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Y. Tymchenko and Professor O.Syniavskyi. In the 40s-80s, the Department of Ukrainian Language was headed by Academic L. Bulakhovskyi (1946 ‒ 1947), Professor P. Pliushch (1947 ‒ 1966), Professor I.Kucherenko (1966 ‒ 1987), Professor O.Bilodid (1987 – 1992), Professor L.Kadomtseva (1993 ‒ 1994), Associate Professor N.Pliushch (1994 ‒ 2000). From 2001 until now, the Department has been headed by Professor A. Moisiienko. Over the years, the department has been home to many prominent scholars, including Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Professor I. Bilodid (1947–1956), Professor N. Totska (1950–1987), Professor V. Koptilov (1956–1981), Associate Professor P. Tymoshenko (1949–1984), Associate Professor A. Mohyla (1954–1987), Associate Professor L. Aleksiienko (since 1941), among others.
Now the Department has 6 Professors, 14 Associate Professors, 2 Assistant Professors.
Since the founding of the Institute of Philology, members of the department have published 48 monographs, more than 100 textbooks and manuals, and more than 1,500 articles in various fields of linguistic science. Since 1973, the department has been publishing the interdepartmental academic journal Ukrainian Linguistics.
The Department trains students in two educational and scientific Master’s programs (Ukrainian Philology and Western European Language, Applied Linguistics (editorial translation and expert Activity)) and three Bachelor’s programs (Ukrainian Language and Literature and Western European Language, Ukrainian and English languages: translation and editing, and Applied (computer) linguistics and English).
The department’s faculty maintain active academic and teaching collaborations with scholars from foreign universities. They have delivered guest lectures at the University of Vienna (Austria), the University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University, the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland), the University of Florence (Italy), Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic), and other institutions.
Foreign scholars actively participate in departmental scientific conferences and give lectures for students. For active participation in scientific and lecturing cooperation with the department, a Professor of the University of Vienna, famous Slavic-Ukrainian scholar, and President of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies M. Mozer was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
There are two educational and scientific laboratories at the Department, − experimental phonetics laboratory (academic supervisor – Associate Professor A. Bas-Kononenko) and computer linguistics laboratory (academic supervisor – Professor N. Darchuk), which became the educational and academic base for the implementation of the latest achievements related to the automated processing of experimental data and computer support of linguistic science.
Since 2006, on the occasion of the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language, the department has held an annual international scholarly conference titled “Language as a World of Worlds: Grammar and Poetics of Textual Structures.”
Since September 2017, under the leadership of Associate Professor A. Matsko, the Linguistic Club “ZMovnyky” has been working at the department. This is a space for friendly communication and scientific discussions with students, lecturers, graduates, and everyone else interested in participating.