All solutions and problems now up for IOL 2017!

All problems and solutions of IOL 2017 are now up, including the solution to the team contest problem (Indonesian + Emojis).

They're all here!

Well done everyone who competed! How did you do? Tells us in the comments!

Solutions IOL 2017 problems

The solutions to the problems of the individual contest have now been uploaded! How did you do? Let us know in the comments how well you did at solving the problems without having access to the solutions. The team problems will be released soon, hold on :)!

Bruno L'Astoria, author of problem #3 on Kimbundu, has kindly shared the slides of his presentation from Dublin. You can find them here. 

Kimbundu is an Altantic-Congo (Bantu) language of Angola. There were a lot of slaves taken from this region of Africa to Brazil for forced labour to produce goods for Europe. Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese, and there is a long discussion on the influence of different African languages on its development. Kimbundu is one of the languages that is believed to have had a significant influence on the development of Brazilian Portuguese.

Milena Veneva, author of problem #1 on Birom, has also kindly shared presentation slides. You can find those here.

Languages of Africa, based on Ethnologue. Niger-Congo in green
Screen grab from Langscape, © 2014 University of Maryland

Birom is also an Atlantic-Congo language, but of a different branch: Plateau and it is spoken in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the most linguistically diverse countries on the planet, it is estimated that over 500 languages are spoken there! Atlantic-Congo* is the largest language family in the world, with over 1,400 members!

For more information on how people did solving these two problems, insights from the authors etc, please see the presentation slides :)!

*There are two different names for this family, you might be more familiar with "Niger-Congo" than "Atlantic-Congo". They are different, and have different members. It all depends on how far back you believe that you can reconstruct this family. Glottolog is more conservative and uses "Atlantic-Congo", while Ethnologue is more inclusive and uses the label "Niger-Congo". One of the largest differences in the members of these two groups is whether or not to include Mande languages. "Niger-Congo" includes Mande, but "Atlantic-Congo" does not include Mande languages. Both of these labels include Bantu languages, the largest subgroup with over 600 languages.

Problems of IOL 2017 - you've got ten days to find the solutions!

The problems of IOL 2017 have been made available online! Hugh Dobbs, the chair of the Problem Committee, has given you all ten days to try and solve the problems, and then we will upload the solutions. So get craicing!

You can submit your suggested solutions down below in the comments of this blogpost if you want, that way they'll be time-stamped and we can compare them to the solutions when they are published ;)!

Solvers Choice Awards: Tae Hun Lee and the problem on Laven language and Khom script
Contrary to speculations by LNNO, the member of the Problem Committee who received the Solver's Choice awards was not Ksenia Gilyarova, but Tae Hun Lee. He received the award for problem number 4, which was about the language Laven (Jru') and the Khom script. Laven (Jru') is an Austroasiatic language spoken in Laos by approximately 28,000 people. The Khom script was used for this language from 1924 to 1936.

The Khom script was invited by Ong Kommandam and used in the rebellion by the hill Mon-Khmer groups  ("Khom") against French and Lao rule. In an article in the International Journal of the Sociology of Language, linguist Paul Sidwell writes: 

The script was used by a political leader as part of his resistance effort against the colonial French, used to symbolize his power more than to communicate factual content. The script is unique in the way it has separate symbols for... <text hidden because spoiler>

Can you figure out what it is that Sidwell points out as unique with the Khom script? Let us know!

*** Update. The PDFs are now found in the regular place on the official website.

IOL 2016 going on! #ioling

Photo by Bruno L'Astoria.

The 14th International Linguistics Olympiad is currently underway in Mysore, India. The individual contest has taken place, the team contest is soon under way! All the best wishes to all participants, and strength and endurance to the jury during their long hard work correcting. Remember, they correct solutions for the problems written in all languages of the IOL-teams! (For more on that, go here.)

For posts from those present in Mysore, check out the #ioling tags on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

The contest and award parts of the IOL might be over, but the events are still going on as we speak! How are the people at the official IOL Excursion enjoying themselves? Read more about it here: http://ift.tt/1D1k23P

There has been an update on the Facebook page for 13-th International Linguistics Olympiad. For original post, visit: http://ift.tt/1MhFkNv.
The contest and award parts of the IOL might be over, but the events are still going on as we speak! How are the people at the official IOL Excursion enjoying themselves? Read more about it here: http://ift.tt/1D1k23P

IOL excursion contest - Photo diary Tell us about your trip to the Rila Monastery through interesting and original photos. There will be prizes for the best diaries! More info later today.

There has been an update on the Facebook page for 13-th International Linguistics Olympiad. For original post, visit: http://ift.tt/1MhFkNv.
IOL excursion contest - Photo diary Tell us about your trip to the Rila Monastery through interesting and original photos. There will be prizes for the best diaries! More info later today.

And the individual contest is now under way! Good luck to everybody, and keep your fingers crossed for your country's teams, they will need all the help they can get!

There has been an update on the Facebook page for 13-th International Linguistics Olympiad. For original post, visit: http://ift.tt/1MhFkNv.
And the individual contest is now under way! Good luck to everybody, and keep your fingers crossed for your country's teams, they will need all the help they can get!

The North American teams have already made their way to AUBG. Are you next?

There has been an update on the Facebook page for 13-th International Linguistics Olympiad. For original post, visit: http://ift.tt/1MhFkNv.
The North American teams have already made their way to AUBG. Are you next?