Traditional Olympiad in linguistics results. XLV Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics. Links and notes

The most popular competition is the competition-game “Russian Teddy Bear -linguistics for everyone”, it is held every year in November on the same day throughout Russia (and now also in 20 other countries) for schoolchildren in grades 2-11. Participants are offered sets of 30 test problems with five possible answers. The problems are quite small, but not all of them are easy to solve: the first 10 are really simple (they are worth 3 points), the next 10 are more difficult and are worth 4 points, and the last 10 five-point problems have a real Olympiad complexity, only the most prepared can solve them and smart. Mostly problems are in Russian, but in each version, as a rule, there are one or two logical problems in other languages ​​that do not require knowledge of these languages ​​to be solved.

The next most popular is the linguistic competition of the Tournament named after. M. V. Lomonosova, which is held in Moscow, and in recent years in more than 30 cities at the end of September— early October for schoolchildren in grades 8-11 (but seventh and sixth graders often come). The problems for this competition are not test ones, like for the Little Bear, but of a completely different type.— so-called self-sufficient tasks. At the Tournament, the tasks are not very difficult, since the goal of the competition is— to attract schoolchildren to linguistics, to show them what linguistic tasks are. Those schoolchildren who liked solving such problems then come to linguistic clubs and the Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics, which is held a month and a half after the Tournament. The organizers are considering the linguistic competition of the Tournamentthem. M.V. Lomonosov as a preliminary, zero round of the Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics.

The university has been acting as a venue for on-site rounds of the Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics for several years now. The first such Olympiad was held in Moscow in 1965. It has been taking place in St. Petersburg since 1996.

The main participants are students in grades 8-11. Successful participation does not require special knowledge - it is enough to speak Russian and be able to think logically.

In each of the two rounds – correspondence and full-time – schoolchildren receive five tasks, the creation of which involves 15–20 different languages. Over the years of the Olympiad, a database of more than a thousand problems containing materials from several hundred languages ​​has been created. The authors of the problems are both famous linguists and students.

In the 2017/2018 academic year, the Linguistics Olympiad was assigned the 1st level in Russian and foreign languages: prizes provide special benefits for admission to higher education institutions.

Venue of the 2018 in-person tours in St. Petersburg: Universitetskaya embankment, 11, St. Petersburg State University.

Olympiad schedule

• Online qualifying round – January 13-16, 2018
• Head-to-head rounds of the final stage:
  • First in-person round – February 11, 2018
  • Second full-time round – March 4, 2018

For more information about the Olympiad, see

The Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities holds various linguistic competitions and Olympiads. These competitions differ in the level of difficulty of the tasks and the number of participants.

The most popular competition (almost 3 million schoolchildren took part in it in 2012) is the All-Russian competition “Russian Teddy Bear - Linguistics for Everyone.” The central organizing committee of this competition is located in Kirov, and the Institute of Linguistics provides scientific and methodological management of the competition and prepares the tasks for the competition.

The next most popular is the Linguistic Competition of the Tournament named after. M.V. Lomonosov, held in Moscow and more than a hundred other cities. About fifty thousand schoolchildren take part in it every year.

For schoolchildren who feel inclined to study linguistics, the Moscow Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics is held (at the same time, according to the same program, the Olympiad is held in St. Petersburg and some other cities, as well as online). In Moscow, about five hundred schoolchildren take part in the Olympiad every year.

Finally, . About a hundred schoolchildren from different countries gather there. Moscow is usually represented by a team of 4 people selected based on the results of the Moscow Olympiad.

All-Russian competition “Russian Bear Cub - linguistics for everyone”

The competition “Russian Bear - linguistics for everyone” is the younger brother of the popular international mathematical competition “Kangaroo - mathematics for everyone”. The Bear Cub was first held in 2000 on the initiative of the Kirov Center for Additional Education of Gifted Schoolchildren with the support of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities and the Russian Organizing Committee of Kangaroo.

Interest in the game grew explosively: if 64,000 schoolchildren took part in “Bear Cub 2000”, then a year later more than 259,000 schoolchildren from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Latvia played “Bear Cub”, and in 2012 - almost 3 million schoolchildren out of 20 countries!

There are two reasons for the popularity of Little Bear. First of all, it's accessible. The game is held directly in schools, takes only about an hour and a half, and everyone can participate in it; there is no need to write down solutions - just select one of the five proposed answer options and mark its number on a special form; among the 30 tasks there are both difficult and very easy ones, so that almost every participant manages to correctly complete at least a few of them. Secondly, the compilers try to select tasks that require not only (and not so much) knowledge of the rules, but also general culture, logic and reflection, and sometimes a sense of humor. After all, the main goal of the game is to show the beauty of the Russian language, to overcome the idea of ​​it as a formal and boring subject.

Linguistic competition of the Tournament named after. M.V. Lomonosov

International Olympiad in Linguistics

Since 2003, the International Olympiad in Linguistics has been held every summer. The idea of ​​such an international Olympiad belongs to the teachers of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities. In 2014, the twelfth Olympics took place in Beijing, China.

Unlike all the already mentioned Olympiads, everyone cannot participate in the MOL. A team of four people - winners of the Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics - is selected to participate in the international Olympiad. According to an already established tradition, two teams from Russia are participating in the international Olympiad - the winners of the Olympics in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities.

Every year the number of participating countries is growing. If representatives of only 6 countries took part in the first Olympics in Borovets, Bulgaria, then during the twelfth Olympics in Beijing 39 teams from 28 countries competed among themselves!

;
- supported by Moscow Center for Continuing Mathematical Education ;
V St. Petersburg hosts the Olympics Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University ;

V Minsk hosts the Olympics Philological Faculty of BSU .

In-person tours in other cities, except Moscow and St. Petersburg, are organized by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, as well as local schools, lyceums and universities.

general information

1. The Olympics are held for students in grades 8-11 regardless of place of residence. Participation by schoolchildren of 7th and lower grades is allowed on assignments for 8th grades.

2. Students take part in the Olympiad voluntarily. Charging payment (in any form) for participation in the Olympics is not permitted.

3.Work language Olympics - Russian.

4.Official site The Olympiad in Linguistics is posted on the Internet at www.lingling.ru/olymp.php (hereinafter referred to as the Olympiad website). The official portal of the Moscow Olympiad for schoolchildren is www.olimpiada.ru (hereinafter referred to as the MOSH portal).

Basic provisions

The Olympiad is held in two stages:

ØThe first stage is qualifying, conducted in absentia online;

ØThe second stage is the final stage, conducted in person in accordance with the approved schedule for the Moscow Olympiad for schoolchildren. The beginning and end of all Olympic events are indicated in the schedule according to Moscow time.

ØTo solve linguistic problems not required special knowledge in linguistics or proficiency in a particular foreign language. At each round, the participant receives several self-sufficient tasks, for solving which the information contained in the condition is sufficient. All that is required is the ability to reason logically and use linguistic intuition. The only exception is the only task - task No. 0 in the 2nd round on knowledge of foreign languages.

1. QUALIFICATION STAGE

1.1. Registration of participants is carried out on the Olympiad portal from December 1, 2014 until the end of the qualifying stage (January 20, 2015).

1.2. The execution of the qualifying stage work online is carried out with 0:01 January 18, 2015 to 23:59 January 20, 2015 by Moscow time. 4 astronomical hours – 240 minutes – are allotted to complete tasks. You can start completing tasks at any time in the specified interval, however, work acceptance closes at 23:59 January 20, 2015

1.3. Participants' work is checked automatically.

1.4. The Olympiad participant must register at

http://reg.olimpiada.ru/register/ling-2014-2015/questionnaire. After registration, the participant receives access to his personal account.

1.5. Functions of the Olympiad participant’s personal account:

− storage of data about the participant, including his registration number;

− ensuring the ability to complete tasks of the qualifying stage;

− providing information on the number of points scored;

− implementation of the possibility of remotely filing an appeal against the results of the Olympics;

− informing the participant about the events of the Olympics and about appeals accepted for consideration.

1.6. When registering, the participant must indicate the cities in which it would be most convenient for him to complete the tasks of the full-time final stage. The final list of cities in which the full-time final stage rounds are held will be indicated on the Olympics website after the qualifying stage.

The student can also choose to participate in absentia in the final stage: in this case, he will participate online out of competition and will not be able to qualify for any official diplomas and prizes (the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad reserves the right to award online participants who have shown particularly outstanding results with book certificates). or similar prizes).

Participation in absentia in the final stage is possible only for schoolchildren living in cities where in-person tours do not take place. If a participant lives in a city where in-person rounds are held, but for any reason cannot take part in them and wants to participate online outside of the competition, he must write about this to the Olympic organizing committee at [email protected].

1.7. The participant receives assignments for the qualifying stage in his personal account on the MOSH portal.

1.8. The Organizing Committee accepts for consideration only the works of participants in the qualifying stage, received from their personal account on the IOS portal.

1.9. Repeated registration of a participant on the IOS portal is prohibited.

1.10. The results of the qualifying stage are published in the participant’s personal account and on the official website of the Olympics from January 22, 2015.

2. FINAL STAGE

2.1. The winners and prize-winners of the qualifying stage of the Olympiad 2014/2015 (this) academic year, as well as the winners and prize-winners of the final stage of the Olympiad 2013/2014 (last) academic year, who continue to master general education programs of secondary (complete) general education, are allowed to participate in the final stage of the Olympiad. The organizing committee reserves the right to make transfer to the final stage for students in grades 8-10 a recommendation. Students in grade 11 who have not been transferred to the final stage can nevertheless take part in it, but cannot apply for diplomas that provide the right to benefits when entering universities.

2.2. The final head-to-head stage is held in two rounds:

The winners are determined by the totality of results achieved in both rounds. At the same time, out-of-competition rounds are held correspondence final stage (online).

2.3. Both the first round and the second round of the final stage begin at 10:00 Moscow time in all participating cities simultaneously. The exception is cities located in time zones that are more than 5 hours ahead of Moscow time: there the final stage begins at 15:00 local time. 5 astronomical hours – 300 minutes – are allotted for solving problems.

2.4. An 11th grade student must present a passport before entering the classroom (a participant under 14 years of age must present a birth certificate).

2.5. Work is performed only on sheets given to the participant in the classroom. If necessary, the participant may receive additional sheets. To do this, the participant must raise his hand and wait for the person in charge of the audience to approach.

2.6. It is prohibited to use any materials other than those issued by members of the organizing committee. The use of mobile phones, other electronic devices and communications equipment is not permitted.

2.7. While in the audience, the participant must comply with all the requirements of the organizers of the Olympics and those on duty in the audience related to the conduct of the Olympics. If a question arises, the participant must raise his hand and wait for the audience member to approach.

3. SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE OLYMPICS

3.1. Awarding of the winners and prize-winners of the Olympics is held March 15, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. Winners and runners-up receive Olympic diplomas and book prizes.

3.2. Information about the date, place and time of receipt by participants of 11 classes of diplomas, entitling them to benefits upon admission, is posted on the official website of the Olympiad and on the IOS portal.

On November 22, the anniversary, XL Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics for schoolchildren in grades 8–11, open to everyone, will take place in Moscow. This is the 14th Olympiad in St. Petersburg. Participants will solve specially designed problems that simulate the activities of scientists. Once exposed to what linguists do, many are surprised at how different it is from what they learn in school.

In the 60s, linguistics was one of the most popular sciences, along with cybernetics. Linguists wanted to make the science of language formalized, using mathematical methods, to bring it closer to the exact sciences. In order for the new approach to become available to a larger circle of people, as well as to attract fresh, interested forces to this science, it was decided to create a Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics for schoolchildren. At the origins of the Olympiad were Andrei Anatolyevich Zaliznyak, now an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in 2007, he received the State Prize of the Russian Federation for his outstanding contribution to the development of linguistics), Vladimir Andreevich Uspensky, professor at Moscow State University, since 1995, head of the department of mathematical logic and theory of algorithms of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Alfred Naumovich Zhurinsky, specialist in African languages, and many other outstanding linguists and mathematicians.

A special type of problem was invented especially for the Linguistics Olympiad, which, among the usual analogies, most closely resembles logical mathematical problems. By analyzing the material of your native or, conversely, completely unknown language presented in a linguistic task, you can independently discover interesting linguistic phenomena. An important feature of such problems is their self-sufficiency: to solve them you do not need to use dictionaries, grammars, or scientific literature - you must rely only on logical thinking, linguistic intuition and the material given in the problem. The first traditional Olympiad in linguistics and mathematics, at which schoolchildren had the opportunity to try their hand at solving such problems, was held in Moscow in 1965.

For non-specialists, the science of language - linguistics - is associated primarily with the school course of the Russian language (and, partly, foreign languages), which to many seems one of the most boring subjects. From the school science of language, what remains in memory is often only an infinite number of rules, often contradictory to each other, which had to be learned by heart. After school, most people at best think that the science of language is concerned with answering questions like “which syllable is stressed in a word?” calls?", "how to correctly hyphenate a word abstract?", "Is the word written one by one together, separately or with a hyphen? and “how to put commas in a complex sentence?”

Of course, linguists also deal with questions of norms (“what is correct?”), but the main thing that interests them is how language works in general. And people who are not directly related to this science usually have no idea about this side of linguistics. Therefore, schoolchildren, when they first encounter unusual problems at the Linguistic Olympiad, completely different from what they study at school, are pleasantly surprised, and some are struck to the very heart, and after solving such problems, their interest in linguistics remains for the rest of their lives.

Let's try to solve a simple linguistic problem (author - A. N. Zhurinsky).

The words in Swahili (East Africa) and their translations into Russian are given in a different order:

mtu, mbuzi, mgeni, jito, jitu, kibuzi

giant, goat, guest, goat, man, big river

Exercise. Determine which translation corresponds to each word.

Solution.(The text is made faded for the convenience of those who want to solve the problem themselves. Select it with the mouse to read.)

	-buzi	-geni	-to	-tu
ji-			+	+
ki-	+
m-	+	+		+

Now we need to establish what each morpheme means. Russian translations will help us with this. They clearly distinguish the meanings of ‘guest’, ‘goat’, ‘river’, ‘man’. You can classify them on another basis and highlight words with increasing and diminutive meanings, as well as neutral words. Let's build a table:

All that remains is to figure out how to rearrange the rows and columns in the two tables so that one table overlaps the other. This is not difficult to do, and as a result we get the answer:

m- - neutral, ji- - magnifying, ki- - diminutive meaning; -buzi- goat, -geni- guest, -to- river , -tu- Human.

mtu- Human, mbuzi- goat, mgeni- guest, jito- big river, jitu- giant, kibuzi- goat.

Having solved this problem, we actually did what linguists do when studying little-studied languages: taking material completely unfamiliar to us, we analyzed its internal structure, understood some of the patterns of the Swahili language, and were even able to partially describe the grammar of this language (after all, we figured out how Swahili prefixes are used!).

But, of course, a linguist can deal not only with exotic languages, but also with his native language, as well as with the universal properties of all human languages. Such studies can also be modeled in linguistic problems.

As an example, we will give a more complex problem (author - B. L. Iomdin).

Given are pairs of verbs that are close in meaning:

blame - blame

promise - promise

command - command

beg - beg

advise - consult

It is known that in each pair the first verb has a feature that the second verb does not have.

Exercise 1. Determine what this feature is.

Task 2. Find among the verbs listed below those that also have this feature: extort, threaten, forbid, to swear, scream, approve, refuse, take away, dedicate, lose, scold, give up, demand.

Task 3. Come up with two more verbs that have the same feature.

And although we solved this problem using the material of the Russian language, we discovered a phenomenon common to all languages ​​of the world: it is clear that performative verbs exist in any language.

So linguistic problems are an excellent testing ground for getting acquainted with linguistics and its methods. This year the Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics will be held for the 40th time. The only short break came in the mid-1980s, when the department of structural (now theoretical) and applied linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, which was organizing the Olympiad, was closed. In 1988, the Olympiad was held by the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives (now Russian State University for the Humanities), and since 1989 the recreated Department of Structural and Applied Linguistics of Moscow State University has been involved in its organization.

For the last 14 years, the Olympiad has been held simultaneously in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And in 2003, the International Olympiad in Linguistics arose. The 7th International Olympiad, which took place in August 2009, was attended by representatives of 17 countries, which, in turn, also organize their own Olympiads in linguistics.

(Faculty of Philology, Moscow State University).
5) Olympiad page on the RSUH website.
6) About the history of the Olympics.
7) About linguistic tasks.
8) Linguistics for schoolchildren.

Alexander Piperski