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Professor Walter is the Deputy-Chair of the Phraseological Commission, part of the International Committee of Slavists, a UNESCO registered organisation. The organisation charts linguistic trends in Slavonic languages. Professor Alefirenko is a recognised world expert in this field, and heads the Belgorod Phraseological School among his other duties as Chair of History and Philology at the University's Pedagogical Institute. The conference brought together scholars from Russia, Bulgaria, Germany, China, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the United States. They discussed a variety of topics centred around the changing way Slavonic speakers describe the world. The importance of these themes was reflected in the broad non-academic audience in attendance, as language is playing a key role in national identity, and the erosion of traditional culture.