International Linguistics Olympiad
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The International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) is one of the newest in a group of twelve International Science Olympiads. The setup differs from other science olympiads, in that the program contains both individual and team contests. The abbreviation IOL is deliberately chosen not to correspond to the name of the organization in any particular language, and member organizations are free to choose for themselves how to designate the competition in their own language.
This olympiad furthers the fields of mathematical, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics. Like all science olympiads, its problems are translated and completed in several languages and as such must be written free of any native language constraints. In practice, this is often difficult and competitors may gain some advantage if they are familiar with one or more of the language groups which are the subject of some of the assignments. However, the most helpful ability is analytic and deductive thinking, as all solutions must include clear reasoning and justification (as in solving mathematical problems).
The individual contest consists of 5 problems which must be solved in 6 hours. The problems cover the main fields of theoretical, mathematical and applied linguistics – phonetics, morphology, semantics, etc.
Since the 2nd IOL, the team contest has consisted of one extremely difficult and time-consuming problem. Teams, which generally consist of 4 students, are given 3–4 hours to solve this problem.
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[edit] Location of IOLs
| Nbr | Year | Location | Dates | Countries | Participants | Webpage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003 |  Borovets, Bulgaria |
6 | 33 | here | |
| 2 | 2004 |  Moskva, Russia |
July 31-Aug 2 | 7 | 43 | here |
| 3 | 2005 |  Leiden, The Netherlands |
9 | ~52 | ||
| 4 | 2006 |  Tartu, Estonia |
Aug 1-6 | 9 | 51 | here |
| 5 | 2007 | Sankt-Peterburg, Russia |
July 31-Aug 4 | 9 | 61 | here |
| 6 | 2008 | Slantchev Bryag, Bulgaria |
Aug 4-9 | 11 | 63 | here |
| 7 | 2009 |  Wrocław, Poland |
July 26-31 | 17 | 86 | here |
| 8 | 2010 |  Stockholm, Sweden |
July 19-24 | 18 | 99 | here |
| 9 | 2011 |  Pittsburgh, USA |
July 24-30 | 19 | 102 | here |
[edit] Details of IOL problems
The first IOL in 2003 was held in Borovets, Bulgaria. The five problems at the individual contest concerned Jacob Linzbach's "Transcendental algebra" writing system, Egyptian Arabic, Adyghe, and French. The team contest consisted of three problems, on Tocharian, the use of subscripts as indices, and on performative verbs. The problems (with solutions) are available in various languages online.
IOL 2 (2004) was held in Moscow, Russia. The five problems at the individual contest were in Kayapo, Latin, English, Lakhota and Chuvash. The team problem was in Armenian.
IOL 3 (2005) was held in Leiden, The Netherlands. The five problems at the individual contest were in Tzotzil, Lango, Mansi, Yoruba and Lithuanian. The team problem was in Figuig.
IOL 4 (2006) was held in Tartu, Estonia. The five problems at the individual contest were in Lakhota, Catalan, Khmer, Udihe and Ngoni (or Chingoni), a language spoken by the Ngoni people in Tanzania. The problems (with solutions) are available in various languages online.
IOL 5 (2007) was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. The five problems at the individual contest were in Braille, Movima, Georgian, Ndom, and correspondences between Turkish and Tatar. The team problem was in Hawaiian and focused on genealogical terms. Results are shown on the official web site. The problems (with solutions) are available in various languages at the same site.
IOL 6 (2008) was held in Sunny Beach (Slantchev Bryag), Bulgaria. The five individual problems were in Micmac, Old Norse poetry (specificially, drottkvætt), Drehu and Cemuhî correspondences, Copainalá Zoque, and Inuktitut. The team problem was about correspondences between Mandarin and Cantonese using the fanqie system. The problems (with solutions) are available in various languages online.
IOL 7 (2009) was held in Wrocław, Poland, from July 26 to July 30. The subject matter of the five individual problems covered: numerals in the Sulka language, Maninka and Bamana languages in the N'Ko and Latin scripts, traditional Burmese names and their relation with dates of birth, stress position in Old Indic and the relation between grammar and morphology in classical Nahuatl. The team problem was in Vietnamese. The problems (with solutions) are available for download in various languages.
IOL 8 (2010) was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from 19 to 23 July. The individual contest consisted of five problems covering: relations between various verb forms in Budukh, the Drehu counting system, Blissymbolics, mRNA coding, and the connection between Sursilvan and Engadine dialects in Romansh. The team problem involved translating extracts from a monolingual Mongolian dictionary. The problems (with solutions) are available in various languages online.
IOL 9 (2011) was held in Pittsburgh, USA, from 25 to 30 July. The problems of the individual contest required reasoning about Faroese ortography, Menominee morphology, Vai syntax, Nahuatl semantics and the structure of the barcode language EAN-13. The team contest involved the rules and structure of Sanskrit poetry.
[edit] Individual medalists
| Year | Location | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Borovets, Bulgaria |
Alexandra Petrova Boris Turovsky |
Mirjam Plooij Maria Skhapa |
Polina Oskolskaya Ivan Dobrev |
| 2004 | Moscow, Russia |
Ivan Dobrev Alexander Piperski |
Maria Mamykina Todor Chervenkov |
Alexandra Zabelina Xenia Kuzmina |
| 2005 | Leiden, Netherlands |
Ivan Dobrev |
Eleonora Glazova |
Nikita Medyankin Alexander Piperski |
| 2006 | Tartu, Estonia |
Maria Kholodilova Ivaylo Dimitrov |
Yordan Mehandzhiyski Eleonora Glazova |
Yuliya Taran Nikita Medyankin |
| 2007 | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Adam Hesterberg Łukasz Cegieła |
Kira Kiranova Mihail Minkov |
Anna Shlomina Yordan Mehandzhiyski |
| 2008 | Slanchev Bryag, Bulgaria |
Alexander Daskalov Hanzhi Zhu |
Anand Natarajan Maciej Janicki |
Guy Tabachnick Joon Kyu Kang |
| 2009 | Wrocław, Poland |
Diana Sofronieva Łukasz Cegieła |
Vitaly Pavlenko Andrey Nikulin |
Deyana Kamburova Szymon Musioł |
| 2010 | Stockholm, Sweden |
Vadim Tukh Andrey Nikulin |
Martin Camacho Tian-Yi Damien Jiang |
Mirjam Parve Miroslav Manolov |
| 2011 | Pittsburgh, USA |
Morris Alper Eva-Lotta Käsper |
Wesley Jones Allen Yuan |
Min Kyu Kim  Elena Rykunova |
[edit] Team medals
| Nbr | Year | Location | Team Gold | Team Silver | Team Bronze | Winning team in individual competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003 | Borovets, Bulgaria | Netherlands |
Russia-StPetersburg |
Russia-Moscow |
Netherlands |
| 2 | 2004 | Moskva, Russia | Russia-StPetersburg |
Latvia  |
Bulgaria-1 |
Bulgaria-1 |
| 3 | 2005 | Leiden, The Netherlands | Netherlands |
Russia-StPetersburg |
Russia-Moscow |
Bulgaria-1 |
| 4 | 2006 | Tartu, Estonia | Bulgaria-2 |
Netherlands |
Poland-1 |
Bulgaria-1 |
| 5 | 2007 | Sankt-Peterburg, Russia | USA-2 Moscow |
Bulgaria-1 Bulgaria-2 |
None Awarded | Estonia |
| 6 | 2008 | Slantchev Bryag, Bulgaria | USA-2 Bulgaria-East |
Netherlands USA-1 |
None Awarded | USA |
| 7 | 2009 | Wrocław, Poland | USA-Red |
Korea-1 |
Russia-Moscow |
Russia-Moscow |
| 8 | 2010 | Stockholm, Sweden | Latvia |
Russia-Moscow |
Poland-2 |
USA-Blue |
| 9 | 2011 | Pittsburgh, USA | USA-Red |
Russia-StPetersburg |
Russia-Moscow |
USA-Red |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- IOL official website
- Borovetz, 2003 – Official website
- Moscow, 2004 – Official website
- Leiden, 2005 – Official website
- Tartu, 2006 – Official website
- St. Petersburg, 2007 – Official website
- Slanchev Bryag, 2008 – Official website
- Wrocław, 2009 – Official website
- Stockholm, 2010 - Official website
- Pittsburgh, 2011 - Official website
