Cracking the language code
The UK Linguistics Olympiad
Dick Hudson
UCS, November 2011
What it takes



Brains
 to analyse
 to spot patterns
Determination
 to keep going when you're stuck
Imagination
 to keep an open mind
 to think outside the box
Why 'linguistics'?


Because the Olympiad is all about language
 Linguistics is the scientific study of language
The problems are about:
 writing and sounds
 meanings
 grammar
 etc.
A puzzle for Indiana Jones
uklo.org
Where is Cleopatra?
uklo.org
p
t
c
l
o
l
Ptolemy
e
e o pa
Cleopatra
• Spot the pattern!
t
r a
Football teams in Chinese
uklo.org
Japanese hiragana
uklo.org
See if you can sort out which is which.
Ancient Greek – but in Roman letters
uklo.org
The Greek phrases A-H have been translated into English, but the
translations 1-8 have been jumbled up. Your task is to un-jumble them.
Manam Island, Papua New Guinea
uklo.org
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu,
Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang
live. Can you work out who lives where?
Tola
(1)
(2)
(3)
(5)
(4)
Sala
auta = North
ilau = South
DEAD END!
ata = West
awa = East
THINK AGAIN!
What's up in Manam?
Where's North in Manam?
Is the sun always
in the North?
Until recently, there
were
• no maps
• no compasses
What are they like in Manam?
They're like us.
They enjoy a day
at the seaside.
And they don't
know where
North is.
What's where in Manam Island?
uklo.org
New idea: When relating
two places, imagine
standing between them
facing uphill!
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu,
Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang
live. Can you work out who lives where?
Pita
(8)
(6)
Sulung
Butokang
(4)
Tola
(7)
(5)
(3)
Sala
auta = up
ilau = down
ata = left
awa = right
So what?
• Languages have very different ways of coding
the same message.
• Cracking the code is a challenge.
• But they don't even always code the same
meanings.
• And that is why I love linguistics!
The Linguistics Olympiad
• Exotic glimpses of other cultures
• Code-cracking meets sudoku
• Compete
• thousands of other bright youngsters
• like the Maths Challenge
• To find out more, visit:
• www.uklo.org