by Isaac Chan (25A01B)
When I tell people I compete in Linguistics Olympiads, I usually get a polite, confused smile.
“Linguistics Olympiad? What’s that?”
Nobody has heard of Linguistics Olympiads, not even most English Language and Linguistics (ELL) students I’ve met. Compare this with the Science Olympiads, which are reasonably major events on the academic calendar, whereas the Singapore Linguistics Olympiad (SLO) is hardly known.
But the Linguistics Olympiad is a fascinating competition format that stands alone in the range of International Science Olympiads. The International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), the highest level of the competition, proudly declares:
For a competition at that level? Really?
If not jargonic, then what?
While unintuitive, the Linguistics Olympiad really is all about logical reasoning. The format tests underlying linguistic concepts like phonology, syntax, semantics, and morphology, but you don’t need to know these words to understand how to answer the question. Here’s a simple example you can try your hand at — grab a pen and paper:
If you got Argentina and Colombia, congratulations! This is an example of a question testing phonetics, though the more popular question types include those testing grammar, meaning, and syntax.
Questions aren’t quite this easy, though (I wish they were). In the SLO, competitors are given four hours to answer four questions, though most don’t manage to finish due to the fiendishly difficult nature of some questions.
Try it out yourself, though it could take an hour or more(!)
The full paper is here, while the solution is here (under Problem 3).
After the SLO, the top 12 contestants are eligible to represent Singapore in the Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad (APLO), the regional-level competition. Of those 12, top performers can choose to compete in the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), where teams face both individual problems and near-impossible team problems that take hours, even collectively, to solve.
So why should youplural try?
The Linguistics Olympiad is by far the most beginner-friendly Olympiad out there (probably). Though it’s definitely hard, it’s certainly self-teachable. In fact, I taught myself by practising past questions on the SLO or APLO — it was confusing at first, but the euphoria from finally cracking the internal logic of some dastardly unheard-of language, well, can’t be put into words.
Interest in the Linguistics Olympiad isn’t limited to ELL students either (I don’t even take the subject; I take KI, which is mutually exclusive with ELL). In fact, the areas of linguistics that the subject and the competition respectively deal with are worlds apart, according to my ELL-taking classmates (and this wonderful article they wrote detailing it).
Knowledge of linguistics is genuinely optional: while knowing Latin noun declensions or the syllabary of Japanese might give you a little edge as to where to start figuring out a question, all you really need is a curiosity to figure out all the logical connections, some paper, and a whole lot of patience. It’s a chance to try your deductive skills in a whole new context.
How do I get started?
The 2025 edition of the SLO has already concluded, but you can try your hand at practice papers to see if the format piques your interest. SLO runs at the start of every year, held by the National Insititute of Education (NIE), which you can register for on their website when the time comes.
All the best in your journey of cogitation, comprehension, and conjugation.