Louis Blois, Becky Brumpton
louisblois@leggott.ac.uk
beckybrumpton@leggott.ac.uk
www.uklo.org
www.uklo.org
Vowelless Language
"There are languages which don't use vowels, such as Arabic", Paridaan
remarked. "What would happen if we omitted to write all the vowels?“
"I don't think that would be a good idea", Glynis said. "Just think of all the
CNFSN it would cause, not being able to tell the difference between
Bread and Beard. And although TWLV would be unambiguously
TWELVE and TWNT would be TWENTY, there are NMBRS that would
be CNFSBL.“
What is the smallest whole number that
could be mistaken for another whole
number?
www.uklo.org
The UK Linguistics Olympiad…
…is a competition for school & college students
…is organised by a committee of university academics and
school & college teachers
…is run in school/college (schools can enter anyone still at
school - no lower age limit)
…has three levels: Foundation (aimed at years 7-8),
Intermediate (years 9-11) and Advanced (years12-13)
….has two rounds: Round 1 in schools, in February. UKLO send
out the questions and organise the marking (with the help of some
HE student volunteers, including students at Huddersfield University!)
(For fuller information, history etc. see http://uklo.org)
www.uklo.org
About the olympiad
• In 2013, over 300 schools and around 2,000 students took part
(more than in any other English-speaking country)
• A number of round 1 students are selected to attend round 2
which takes place in one location, usually in March
A small number of round 2 students
(4 this year) are selected to enter the
international competition in
Stockholm, Washington, or
Manchester! (travel and expenses are
covered by UKLO)
www.uklo.org
How to offer LO?
• STARTERS – problems ready-made to get folks thinking:
Here is an English sentence with a nonsense verb in it:
“After the monster had shunk its prey,
it dragged it back into its cave.”
Fill in the other forms of this verb in the following
sentences:
•
•
•
•
“She used to _______________ groundhogs."
"Now she _____________ possums for a living."
“When she was in Texas, she ___________ thirty-three possums in one
day.”
“Then she took us possum-________ in the Cascades.”
Are there any other solutions?
Give all possible solutions, sorted by how
likely they are to be correct, and explain
www.uklo.org
your answer.
Why offer LO?
• Links to English Language!
 Analytical thinking: ‘problems’ are based on the ‘Linguistic
Methods’
 Analytical skills: ‘problems’ rely on identifying, describing &
evaluating ‘patterns & exceptions’
• Differentiation – ‘foundation’ (to y11) + ‘advanced’ (y12-13) level
problems; “stretch & challenge”, problems reveal surprising
abilities!
• ‘high level’ skills – ‘pattern recognition’, ‘grouping’, connections
across subjects/disciplines; new ways of thinking about language
• UCAS/Oxbridge – gives good Personal Statement
• The UKLO needs English Language students…
www.uklo.org
Why offer LO?
• Students love it! Become
more
inquisitive/enthusiastic
about language
 Minimal delivery –
(surprisingly) ‘heads down’
commitment!
 Natural pair/group work
– works better together!
Everyone gets the chance
to test & develop
strategies…
www.uklo.org
Try the LO?
 Analytical thinking: ‘problems’ are based on the
‘Linguistic Methods’…
 Analytical skills: ‘problems’ rely on identifying,
describing & evaluating ‘patterns & exceptions’…
 pair/group work…
 Trying out strategies…
The best way to get to know the LO, is to
have a go at a few problems…
www.uklo.org
What’s wrong with this machine
translation?
• Annie Jones sat angry-legged on her Uncle John's
facade porch; her favourite rag doll clutched under one
supply. The deceased afternoon sun polished through
the departs of the giant oak tree, casting its flickering
ignite on the cabin. This entranced the child and she sat
with her confront changed upward, as if hypnotized. A
stabilize hum of conversation flowed from inside the
cabin. "Ellen, I'm really happy that you arrived to church
with us today. Why don't you spend the night here? It's
buying awfully deceased and it will be dark ahead you
construct it house."
www.uklo.org
Correct the machine translation!
Annie Jones sat angry-legged
on her Uncle John's
façade
porch; her favourite rag doll clutched under one
supply
. The deceased
afternoon sun polished
through the departs
of the giant oak tree, casting its
flickering ignite
on the cabin. This entranced the child and she
sat with her confront
changed
upward, as if
hypnotized. A stabilize
hum of conversation flowed from
inside the cabin. "Ellen, I'm really happy that you arrived
to
church with us today. Why don't you spend the night here? It's buying
awfully deceased
and it will be dark ahead
you construct
it house
."
www.uklo.org
Why did the machine get it wrong?
Annie Jones sat cross-legged [angry-legged] on her Uncle John's
front [façade] porch; her favourite rag doll clutched under one arm
[supply]. The late [deceased] afternoon sun shone [polished] through
the leaves [departs] of the giant oak tree, casting its flickering light
[ignite] on the cabin. Thisentranced the child and she sat with her
face turned [confront changed] upward, as if hypnotized. A steady
[stabilize] hum of conversation flowed from inside the cabin. "Ellen,
I'm really happy that you came [arrived] to church with us today. Why
don't you spend the night here? It's getting [buying] awfully late
[deceased] and it will be dark before [ahead] you make [construct] it
home [house]."
www.uklo.org
‘We are all molistic. . .’
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jane is molistic and slatty.
Jennifer is cluvious and brastic.
Molly and Kyle are slatty but danty.
The teacher is danty and cloovy.
Mary is blitty but cloovy.
Jeremiah is not only sloshful but also weasy.
Even though frumsy, Jim is sloshful.
Strungy and struffy, Diane was a pleasure to watch.
Even though weasy, John is strungy.
Carla is blitty but struffy.
The salespeople were cluvious and not slatty.
1. Which of the following would you be likely to hear?
Meredith is blitty and brastic.
The singer was not only molistic but also cluvious.
May found a dog that was danty but sloshful.
•
•
•
•
2. What quality or qualities would you be looking for in a person?
blitty
weasy
sloshful
frumsy
www.uklo.org
www.uklo.org
Strategies
Patterns & exceptions? System?
Patterns:
• The new adjectives are either linked by ‘ands’ or ‘buts’, so are either
similar or opposite
• They are either ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ (‘polarity’)
Exceptions:
• “Strungy and struffy, Diane was a pleasure to watch.” - the anchor - the
one clear exception, where adjectives (‘strungy’ and ‘struffy’) are
identified as positive!
System:
• If ‘X and Y’ means two adjectives have the same ‘polarity’ and ‘X but Y’ if
they have opposite polarity, we can work out which are which
www.uklo.org
Strategies - patterns, exceptions
& systems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jane is molistic and slatty.
Jennifer is cluvious and brastic.
Molly and Kyle are slatty but danty.
The teacher is danty and cloovy.
Mary is blitty but cloovy.
Jeremiah is not only sloshful but also weasy.
Even though frumsy, Jim is sloshful.
Strungy and struffy, Diane was a pleasure to watch.
Even though weasy, John is strungy.
Carla is blitty but struffy.
The salespeople were cluvious and not slatty.
1. Which of the following would you be likely to hear?
Meredith is blitty and brastic.
The singer was not only molistic but also cluvious.
May found a dog that was danty but sloshful.
2. What quality or qualities would you be looking for in a person?
•
•
•
•
blitty
weasy
sloshful
frumsy
www.uklo.org
Strategies - patterns, exceptions
& systems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jane is molistic and slatty.
Jennifer is cluvious and brastic.
Molly and Kyle are slatty but danty.
The teacher is danty and cloovy.
Mary is blitty but cloovy.
Jeremiah is not only sloshful but also weasy.
Even though frumsy, Jim is sloshful.
Strungy and struffy, Diane was a pleasure to watch.
Even though weasy, John is strungy.
Carla is blitty but struffy.
The salespeople were cluvious and not slatty.
1. Which of the following would you be likely to hear?
Meredith is blitty and brastic.
The singer was not only molistic but also cluvious.
May found a dog that was danty but sloshful.
2. What quality or qualities would you be looking for in a person?
•
•
•
•
blitty
weasy
sloshful
frumsy
www.uklo.org
Strategies - patterns, exceptions
& systems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jane is molistic and slatty.
Jennifer is cluvious and brastic.
Molly and Kyle are slatty but danty.
The teacher is danty and cloovy.
Mary is blitty but cloovy.
Jeremiah is not only sloshful but also weasy.
Even though frumsy, Jim is sloshful.
Strungy and struffy, Diane was a pleasure to watch.
Even though weasy, John is strungy.
Carla is blitty but struffy.
The salespeople were cluvious and not slatty.
1. Which of the following would you be likely to hear?
Meredith is blitty and brastic.
The singer was not only molistic but also cluvious.
May found a dog that was danty but sloshful.
2. What quality or qualities would you be looking for in a person?
•
•
•
•
blitty
weasy
sloshful
frumsy
www.uklo.org
‘We are all molistic. . .’
‘Positive’:
brastic
‘blitty and brastic’?
‘Negative’:
✖
blitty
cloovy
cluvious
danty
frumsy
molistic
‘. . .molistic . . .also
cluvious’?
✖
www.uklo.org
sloshful
weasy
struffy
strungy
slatty
‘danty but sloshful’?
✓
‘We are all molistic. . .’
‘Positive’:
brastic
cloovy
Which qualities
would you look for? ‘Negative’:
blitty
‘blitty’?
molistic
cluvious
danty
slatty
‘weasy’?
sloshful
frumsy
struffy
weasy
‘sloshful’?
strungy
‘frumsy’?
www.uklo.org
✓
‘We are all molistic crocodiles. . .’
The Molistic problem…
… makes a great way into discussing adjectives,
modification, conjunctions and ‘attitudes & values’
The Crocodile Bardi problem…
… makes a great way into discussing lexis, and
‘prepositions…!’
Again, the strategy is just a question of patterns &
exceptions’:
identifying the ‘anchor’ - the thing you know - then finding the
system’…
✓
www.uklo.org
Crocodile Bardi
Here is a diagram of a scene showing a bird, a cat, a child, a woman, a dog, a man, a horse and a kangaroo. Both you and a
speaker of Bardi are standing at the bottom of the diagram, facing the scene; that is, "right" is your right, and "in front of" is
closer to the bottom of the page.
Here are some Bardi sentences describing the diagram:
(1) Aamba bornkony yaawardon.
(2) Baawa joorroonggony garrabalgoon.
(3) Boorroo alaboor yaawardon.
(4) Iila alaboor ooranygoon.
(5) Iila baybirrony aambon.
(6) Minyaw baybirrony baawon.
(7) Oorany joorroonggony baawon.
(8) Yaawarda bornkony aambon.
Pair the English words 1-13 with one word each from the list of 13 Bardi words,
A-M. To get you started, 1=H and 2 = D.
www.uklo.org
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
bird
child
cat
dog
horse
kangaroo
man
woman
next to
behind
in front of
to the left of
to the right of
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
aarlgoodony
aamba
alaboor
baawa
baybirrony
boorroo
bornkony
garrabal
iila
joorroonggony
minyaw
oorany
yaawarda
www.uklo.org
Crocodile Bardi – the answers!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 12 13
(H) (D) K
I
M
F
B
L
G
E
C
That is…
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
www.uklo.org
bird
child
cat
dog
horse
kangaroo
man
woman
next to
behind
in front of
to the left of
to the right of
= H
= D
=K
=I
=M
=F
=B
=L
=G
=E
=C
=A
=J
garrabal
baawa
minyaw
iila
yaawarda
boorroo
aamba
oorany
bornkony
baybirrony
alaboor
aarlgoodony
joorroonggony
A
J
Real & imaginary languages
The Molistic problem…
… uses imaginary adjectives, showing how arbitrary words are…
The Crocodile Bardi problem…
… is one of several which introduce students to real languages that
they would probably never come across otherwise…
The Drehu problem…
… goes further, introducing students to the idea that the way things
are thought of and named varies in other cultures…
Again, the strategy = patterns & exceptions’:
This one shows that identifying patterns often begins by just
counting…
www.uklo.org
✓
An “Advanced” problem
which of the lexemes in Drehu correspond with which of the lexemes
in English?
drai-hmitrötr
gaa-hmitrötr
i-drai
i-jun
i-wahnawa
jun
ngöne-gejë
ngöne-uma
nyine-thin
uma-hmitrötr
www.uklo.org
sanctuary [holy place]
bunch of bananas
calendar
bone
church
coast
awl [a tool for making
holes]
Sunday
skeleton
wall
www.uklo.org
Strategies - patterns, exceptions
& systems
Patterns among the Drehu words = morphological?
• 3 words ending in “hmitrötr” (drai-hmitrötr, gaa-hmitrötr, uma-hmitrötr)
• 2 words with “ngöne” (ngöne-uma, ngöne-gejë)
• 2 words with “jun” (jun, i-jun)
• 3 words with “i” (i-jun, i-wahnawa, i-drai) - one of which is also a ‘“jun”’ (i-jun)
Exceptions among the Drehu words?
• nyine-thin
Patterns among the English words = semantic?
• 3 ‘holy’ words (Sanctuary, church, Sunday)
• 2 ‘edge’ words (wall, coast)
• 2 ‘bony’ words (bone, skeleton)
• 3 ‘many’ words (skeleton=‘many bones’, bunch of bananas, calendar=collection
of days)
- one of which is also a ‘bony’ word…!
Exceptions among the English words?
• Awl
www.uklo.org
The solution (The PATTERN = the modifying
morpheme, follows its semantic morpheme or
head. )
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
drai-hmitrötr = Sunday (day + holy)
gaa-hmitrötr = sanctuary (place + holy)
uma-hmitrötr = church (house + holy)
ngöne-uma = wall (border - house)
ngöne-gejë = coast (border - water)
jun = bone
i-jun = skeleton (multitude - bones)
i-wahnawa = bunch of bananas (multitude - bananas)
i-drai = calendar (multitude - days)
nyine-thin = awl (tool to poke)
www.uklo.org
From words to sentences
Problems like ‘Molistic’ & ‘Crocodile Bardi’…
… are lovely for talking about word class analysis…
The Drehu problem…
… goes further, introducing morphology…
The ‘Esperanto’ & ‘Greek’ problems…
… go further still, introducing whole clauses & sentences…
 Try either one, but be warned…
 ‘Esperanto’ was a ’15 point’ problem,
 ‘Greek’ was a ’30 point’ problem…!
www.uklo.org
✓
Esperanto (15 marks)
Here are some Esperanto sentences translated into English
(The letters ‘ĝ’ and ‘ĉ’ are pronounced like ‘g’ and ‘ch’ in the words ‘gem’ and ‘chase’).
1. La kapro manĝintas.
2. La hundo ĉasis la katon.
3. La kapro manĝis.
4. La kapro manĝitos.
5. La kapron ĉasintis la hundo.
6. La kapro manĝas.
7. La kapro manĝotas.
8. La kato manĝantas.
9. La kapro manĝontis.
10. La kapro manĝintos.
11. La kato ĉasas la hundon.
The goat has eaten.
The dog chased the cat.
The goat ate.
The goat will have been eaten.
The dog had chased the goat.
The goat eats.
The goat is going to be eaten.
The cat is eating.
The goat was going to eat.
The goat will have eaten.
The cat chases the dog.
Translate the following sentences into English:
1. La kapro manĝontos.
2. La kapro manĝitas.
3. La kato ĉasitis.
Translate the following sentences into Esperanto:
www.uklo.org
4. The goat was eating.
5. The dog is being eaten.
6. The dog will chase the goat.
www.uklo.org
Esperanto – the answers…
1. The goat will be going to eat.
2. The goat has been eaten.
3. The cat had been chased.
4. La kapro manĝantis.
5. La hundo manĝatas.
6. La hundo ĉasos la kapron.
www.uklo.org
Ancient Greek – but in Roman letters
The Greek phrases A-H have been translated into English, but
the translations 1-8 have been jumbled up.
www.uklo.org
1. un-jumble them.
2. Translate into English
The houses of the merchants
The donkeys of the slave
www.uklo.org
Ancient Greek – the answers!
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
5
6
2
3
1
8
7
4
Exp lan a tio n: (1 p o in t)
In o rde r to a lign th e An cient Gree k se n ten ces w ith th e E nglish
se n ten ces, y o u h av e figure o u t t h e con ten t w or ds (m aster, so n , do n k e y ,
h o u se, an d slave ) and the s ing ul a r s a n d p lu ra l s. I n o rder to get
s tar ted, y o u n eed an anchor . O n ce y o u h ave an anc h or, y ou can fig ure
o u t the r est by logic an d p roc ess o f eli m ina tio n .
Var ious a ncho rs a re p o s sibl e. T hre e are desc ribed he re .
1. No tice tha t fo u r E nglish se n ten ces con ta in t h e w ord "m aster" o r
"m as ters " and t ha t fo u r Gr eek se n tences contain w o rds tha t s tart w ith
"cy r". No o t h er word oc curs fou r tim e s. Th erefor e, " m aster" w o u ld be "cy r".
2. C ou n t singu lars and p lur als. F o r exa m p le, in fi ve
En glish se n tences, th e seco n d no un is p lur al a n d fiv e Gr eek se n tences
h av e th e w o rd " to n ".
3. A ltho ugh y o u can d o this pr o bl em w ith o u t recog nizing an y w o rd s, y ou
m ig ht h av e rec ognized a few. F or exam p le "a de lph oi" loo ks like
"P hil ade lp hia" , th e cit y o f b rot h erly lov e. If y o u kn o w tha t " ph il "
m ea n s "lo ve" as i n "b ibliophil e" (b oo k lo ver ), th en y ou w ou ld k n ow tha t
"a de lph o i" m ean s b rot h er . Yo u m ight a lso no tice that "em p o ro i"
www.uklo.org
re min ds y ou of th e w o rd "em p o rium ", w hi ch is a m arket p lac e.
Ancient Greek – the answers!
T ra n sla tio n s (7 p o in ts)
(" o:" is th e vo w el tha t is s p ell ed as an " o " w ith a bar o ver it in th e
te s t b oo klet.)
the h o u ses o f th e m er cha nts
h oi to :n em po ro :n oicoi
the d o n ke y s o f th e slav e
h oi tu du lu on oi
O rd er o f wor ds:
Eac h se n tence s tarts w ith tw o articles, w hi ch are followed by tw o
noun s. T he fi rst article s tart s w ith " h ". T he sec ond a rticle starts
w ith " t". T he fi rs t noun is the o w ner, and the sec ond noun is t he
thing tha t is ow ned.
N um b er ( s ing ul ar a nd p lu ral ):
F or the o w ner (fi rs t noun in Gr eek; second noun in E ng lish):
"o:n" is p lur al and "u" is singu lar.
Exp lan a tio n
F or the o w ned (s econd noun in Gr eek; fi rst noun in E ng lish):
Voc ab ul ary:
"oi" is p lur al and "os" is singu lar .
h yi
Mat chin g of ar tic l e s a nd no uns :
so n
d ul s lav e
c y ri m aster
Th e fi rs t article has an ending tha t ma tches the o wn ed noun :
oic h o use
o n d o nke y
"ho" is singu lar and "hoi" is p lur al.
ade lph b rot her
em po r m er cha nt
www.uklo.org
About the olympiad
www.uklo.org
About the olympiad
Problem and solution in the round 2 materials here:
http://www.naclo.cs.cmu.edu/naclo08.html
www.uklo.org
Why offer LO?
• Supports delivery of “Linguistic Methods”
 Free database of “problems” based on familiar
features/issues (word order, morphology, semantics,
language change, acquisition…);
 ‘knowledge about language’ for GCSE; OfSTED
friendly!
www.uklo.org
How to offer LO?
• Whole class – readymade occasional/Friday
afternoon lessons…
• Enrichment/Extension groups – cross-curricular &
self-supporting
• Term 1 & ½ of term 2 – Olympiad is in February
(no exam clashing), papers have been provided
and marked free of charge…
www.uklo.org
Supporting the Supporters
• We support you to support your students
• We know that:
– Your subject area may not be language (many of our teachers
work in maths or IT)
– You may not have been trained in the structure of language
– You might not feel confident approaching the challenges yourself
initially
– You don’t have a lot of time to invest, but you want to give your
students additional opportunities
• A shared experience:
you can learn along with the students.
www.uklo.org
The Aim
• We want students to:
–
–
–
–
Develop their analytical skills and apply them to language
Gain a better understanding of how language works
Enjoy studying language
Realise that studying language/linguistics is an option they could
pursue.
• Knowing about language is not a pre-requisite
• But, some basic terminology/concepts can be helpful,
particularly for the advanced level of the competition.
www.uklo.org
Support we currently offer
• Online materials at www.uklo.org
• Introductory/training PowerPoint shows:
– Help students to understand how to tackle problems
– Examples from each level of the competition (F, I, H)
• Problem sets and solutions, rated by difficulty
• UKLO test papers from previous years
• Posters to help you recruit students.
www.uklo.org
We’d like to do more
• We would like to offer more support
• We’re still developing material for this (2013-14 is only
our fifth year)
• We need to better understand:
– What support you and your students would find helpful
– What type/format of support would be useful
– When this support should be provided
• Building up support provision over time.
www.uklo.org
For more information
• http://uklo.org
• uk.linguistics.olympiad@gmail.com
• LouisBlois@leggott.ac.uk
• beckybrumptomn@leggott.ac.uk
(or talk to us today!)
www.uklo.org