14.2597, FYI: International Olympiad in Linguistics

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-2597. Mon Sep 29 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.2597, FYI: International Olympiad in Linguistics

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1)
Date:  Sat, 27 Sep 2003 14:14:14 +0300
From:  Ivan A Derzhanski <iad at math.bas.bg>
Subject:  International Olympiad in Linguistics

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 27 Sep 2003 14:14:14 +0300
From:  Ivan A Derzhanski <iad at math.bas.bg>
Subject:  International Olympiad in Linguistics



Dear colleagues,

As announced in Linguist 14.794, the First International Olympiad in
Theoretical, Mathematical and Applied Linguistics, being the first
instalment of the International Linguistic Olympics for secondary
school students, was held in the resort Borovetz, Bulgaria, from 8 to
12 September 2003.

The Olympiad saw the participation of 33 students aged 14--19, forming
eight teams of four contestants each.  Six countries were represented:
Bulgaria (with two teams and one unaffiliated contestant), the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands and Russia (with separate
teams from Moscow and St Petersburg).  Most of the highest scores were
earned by participants from Russia, the Netherlands and Bulgaria,
where linguistic competitions have been held for years.  However, no
team left Bulgaria empty-handed: contestants from the Czech Republic,
Estonia and Latvia, who had never taken part in a competition of this
kind, were awarded some of the special prizes for best solutions, as a
proof of the fact that linguistics is a sport in which enthusiasm and
diligence will take a beginner a long way.

The site <http://www.philol.msu.ru/~otipl/new/main/mol/index.php>
contains some information on the Olympiad, and will contain more
before long.  Until the poster and the leaflet are uploaded there, you
can find them at <http://www.math.bas.bg/ml/iad/poster.doc> and
<http://www.math.bas.bg/ml/iad/leaflet.doc>, respectively.  The text
of the statements and solutions of the problems in the languages in
which they were offered to the contestants (that is, Russian,
Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch and Estonian) is now undergoing a final
editing process, and then it, along with an English version, will also
be made available.  Watch this space for announcements.

The Second International Olympiad in Linguistics will in all
likelihood be held in Moscow in the summer of 2004.  If you are
interested

* in training a team of students for participation,
* or coming to the Olympiad as an independent observer,
* or composing linguistic problems,
* or helping with the translation of linguistic problems
  into the languages that next year's teams will use,
* or being a guinea pig (ie a test solver, solvability prover,
  difficulty valuer and detector of parasitic solutions),

then we want to hear from you!  Write to Boris Iomdin <ling at narod.ru>
and/or to me (address in the header).


- Ivan A Derzhanski, Chair of the Problem Committee and the
International Jury of the First International Olympiad in Linguistics

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