"the process to convert PHP into a Java-esqe Kotlin-esque language is continuing"
My observation is also that PHP is growing too much in language size. Depending on one's viewpoint, this can be seen as either matching the feature and syntax bloat of other languages, or taming the language to make it "saner".
The beauty of PHP is that you can still choose how complex you want your application to grow - and that you can adapt if needs change.
You can do everything from a one-file hacked together shell scripts (which I love to do because bash is just plain annoying sometimes, especially for stuff that has to work on OS X and Linux with their not-so-small differences in coreutils) to enterprise-style architected software in Symfony or Laravel.
My observation is also that PHP is growing too much in language size. Depending on one's viewpoint, this can be seen as either matching the feature and syntax bloat of other languages, or taming the language to make it "saner".