Franko was born in the city of
Lviv (then known as Lwów and part of the
Second Polish Republic) on 31 October 1925 to Kateryna and . Via her father, she was the granddaughter of poet and writer
Ivan Franko. She studied at the
Lviv Academic Gymnasium and the
Stanislaviv Gymnasium, graduating from the latter shortly before Soviet troops recaptured the city in 1944. In contrast to other members of her family, like the executed
Petro Franko, Zynoviia was treated particularly well by the Soviet government. Franko graduated from the
University of Lviv in 1949, and completed postgraduate studies at the
Potebnia Institute of Linguistics. She became a
candidate of sciences in 1954, and from 1956 was a senior academic at the institute. == Dissident activities ==