Olympiad in linguistics tasks. Linguistics Olympiads

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 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!

Moscow Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics- an annual Olympiad for schoolchildren, held in Moscow by two universities - Moscow State University and Russian State University for the Humanities. In 2008, two rounds took place - on November 16th and 30th. The award ceremony for the winners took place on December 21 at Moscow State University.

In 2006, the Olympiad became regional - not only residents of Moscow, but also residents of other cities and towns can take part in it.

History of the Olympics

The Olympics owe its existence to A. N. Zhurinsky. While still a 3rd year student at the Department of Structural and Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, A. N. Zhurinsky proposed holding an Olympiad in linguistics for high school students. The tradition of holding Mathematical Olympiads at Moscow State University, which had developed by that time, became something of a starting point for the Linguistic Olympiad; but linguists, unlike mathematicians, did not yet have experience in composing problems for schoolchildren. The body of problems for the first Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics and Mathematics (by calling the very first Olympiad traditional, its organizers expressed their confidence in further success) A. N. Zhurinsky prepared together with V. V. Raskin and B. Yu. Gorodetsky.

The history of the Olympics begins in 1965, when, by order of the rector of Moscow State University I. G. Petrovsky and with the active participation of V. A. Uspensky, the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University held the First Olympics. The timing changed several times - the Olympics were held either in late autumn or in spring. But in 1993, the Organizing Committee of the XXIV Olympiad finally decided to postpone the date to the end of November: firstly, Olympiads in school subjects are usually held in the spring, and secondly, graduate students are busy preparing for admission and often simply do not have time to come.

Six years - from 1982 to 1988. - The Olympiads were not held due to the liquidation of the Department of Structural and Applied Linguistics in 1982. In the spring of 1988, the so-called zero Olympiad took place, at which schoolchildren were offered old problems. And since 1989, the Olympics have been held regularly again, every year. In 1989-1991 it is organized jointly by Moscow State University, MGIAI - Moscow State Historical and Archival Institute - and the Institute of Foreign Languages. Maurice Thorez (now MSLU). In 1991, the Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU) was created on the basis of MGIAI; The Faculty of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (FTiPL) emerges. Moscow State Linguistic University withdrew from participating in the organization of the Olympiad in 1991, and since that time it has been held jointly by the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University and the Faculty of Physical Education and Literature of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Olympiad participants

Any schoolchild can participate in the Olympiad, but as a rule, these are schoolchildren from grades 6 to 11, students of technical or humanitarian specialties. All participants are divided into four categories - participants in grades 8 and below, participants in grades 9, 10 and 11.

Participation in the Olympiad does not require a preliminary application. You just need to find out the date of the first round this year (it appears on the Olympiad website closer to November, and is also announced at the Lomonosov Tournament) and the venue (usually Moscow State University).

Holding the Olympiad

The Olympiad is held in two rounds with a break of 14 days (2 weeks). First, on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., children write an Olympiad in the first humanities building of Moscow State University. They are given brochures with tasks. As a rule, 5 tasks are intended for participants from one parallel. The problems in the booklet vary in difficulty level (the older the students, the more difficult the problems are), some of the problems are intended for several grades. In the second round there is also task 0 on knowledge of languages. Two weeks after the first round, on Saturday evening, problem analysis takes place, and the next day - the second round, already at the Russian State University for the Humanities. After two or three weeks, the problems of the second round are analyzed and awards are given. During the Olympics, children are offered sandwiches and tea.

Tasks

The tasks of the Olympiad belong to the type of “self-sufficient linguistic task”, which A. N. Zhurinsky wrote about. Examples:

Similar problems are used for the linguistics competition of the Lomonosov Tournament.

The languages ​​used by participants to answer problem 0 are sometimes both languages ​​invented by the participants themselves (then it becomes difficult to check the correctness of the solution) and programming languages ​​(in most cases, errors occur during compilation or interpretation).

Evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria are kept secret. It is quite difficult to say what should be in an “ideal” solution to a problem. But it is clear that answers without explanation are rated low. The solution to problems of a higher class is assessed (however, it is unclear how much this influences the results of the overall test; undoubtedly, the best solutions can be awarded for this). No points are awarded for solving lower-level problems.

Awards

A traditional element of the award ceremony is the reading of the minutes of the jury meeting. The award takes place in two stages. First, prizes are awarded for excellent or good solutions to individual problems (usually the authors of the problems give prizes if they are present in the hall). Participants are then rewarded for the amount of results achieved. There are four categories of total awards - commendable reviews and diplomas of three degrees. The prizes include dictionaries, language textbooks, and books on linguistics (sometimes quite rare and therefore valuable). The Solver Prize is also awarded to the author of the best problem in the opinion of the students.

Elements of mathematics in problems

Problems for mathematics as such are given implicitly, in conjunction with linguistics. For example, the numerals of a language are given and it is necessary to determine the patterns in this language, the establishment of which requires mathematics. However, it should be noted that solutions to problems sometimes need to be justified by making conclusions, proving the correctness of the solution - much like what happens when proving the solution to a mathematical problem.

Composing tasks

Problems are written throughout the year. Typically the task path is:

1. The author of a problem, who notices an interesting fact (or several such facts) in a language (or languages), comes up with the idea of ​​writing a problem. He, collecting material (doing research, checking grammars and dictionaries, working with native speakers), writes a draft of the problem.

2. If the author of the draft is not a member of the Olympiad Problem Commission (PC), then he sends the draft to one of its members (for example, I.B. Itkin). A member of the ZK may not accept the task (if he understands that the task is impossible in principle on this material, or if a similar phenomenon has already been “puzzled”), he can edit it or send it to the author for revision, expressing his comments and suggestions, or he can immediately send to the ZK’s “portfolio” if the task in his opinion is good.

3. If the task is in the “portfolio” of the ZK, this means that the task will be considered at the meeting(s) of the ZK, at which several members of the ZK will jointly edit it (if they decide that the task “has the right to life”). As a result, the ZK decides what the final version of the problem will look like, which Olympiad the problem will be submitted to (in addition to the Moscow Olympiad itself, the problem can be sent to the International Olympiad, to the Olympiad of the Summer Linguistic School, to the linguistics competition of the Lomonosov Tournament or to the “Russian Bear Cub” competition) and for which classes it will be intended.

4. A month or two before the Olympiad, the chairman of the ZK or one of its members draws up layouts of brochures with the tasks of this Olympiad.

LLS Olympics

A similar Olympiad in linguistics is also held at the Summer Linguistic School. The Olympiad receives an intermediate number (in July 2008, the LLSH had its 38.5th Olympiad; in November-December 2008, the Moscow Olympiad had the 39th serial number). The composition of the organizers of both Olympiads is very similar. Among the differences, it is necessary to mention the excellent division into classes (grades 10-11 solve the same problems, the student’s class is determined by the class that the student completed before school), the distribution of problems on A4 sheets (unlike brochures at the main Olympiad), the presence of only one round, a small the deadline for checking the problems (the Olympiad is held in the middle of the school, the awards are held at the end, and the school session lasts 9-11 days).

Olympics in St. Petersburg

At the same time as the Moscow Olympiad, the Olympiad is being held in St. Petersburg on almost the same tasks.

see also

Links and notes

Foxford's student on why a linguist needs to know mathematics and why there is no need to prepare for the Linguistic Olympiad

Winner of the Moscow Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics

Interest in mathematics and foreign languages

I studied in a specialized physics and mathematics class at Gymnasium No. 1 in Novosibirsk. My favorite school subjects were mathematics and German.

German is a second foreign language that begins in our gymnasium in the fifth grade. I started learning it back in the summer: I played children’s computer games “Baba Yaga Learns” and “Bolek and Lyolek” and took an online course for beginners on the website dw.com. Then I studied German at DSD courses (Deutsches Sprachdiplom) and in 11th grade I passed their international German language proficiency exam DSD-II. Its results are recognized by all educational institutions in Germany. During the exam, I confirmed level C1 and received the corresponding certificate.

During my math lessons, I liked finding unexpected solutions to geometry problems. And in the tenth grade, they started teaching us a very interesting course on discrete mathematics - before that I had no idea about this field of science.

What is linguistics

Many people mistakenly believe that linguistics is the study of foreign languages. In fact, a linguist studies language as a universal mechanism that ensures communication between people. He does not need to know the language perfectly, but he should have an idea of ​​how different languages ​​work. Otherwise it is impossible to do this science. Typically, linguists know from 3 to 10 languages ​​- some they speak fluently, some they read, some they understand by ear. There are those who know more.

To study linguistics, you also need knowledge of mathematics, because mathematics is logic. It is she who helps solve problems in linguistics and think systematically.

To understand what linguistics works with, I can recommend the following materials:

Books

• V.M. Alpatov “Linguistics: From Aristotle to Computational Linguistics”
• V.A. Plungyan “Why languages ​​are so different”

Video performances

• Boris Iomdin
• Svetlana Burlak
• Alexandra Piperski
• Maxim Krongauz

Preparation for the Olympics

I started writing list olympiads from the seventh grade. I chose humanitarian subjects: history, literature and Russian language, because at that moment I was interested in them. At the same time, I discovered the Traditional Linguistics Olympiad, and it became my favorite.

Since elementary school, I have participated in the Russian Teddy Bear competition. In it, I was most interested in the last task, where I had to translate words from a foreign language into Russian or vice versa using logic. Later, I was happy to learn that there are many such problems in the Traditional Linguistics Olympiad.

An example of one of the problems of the Olympiad in linguistics

It’s interesting that you don’t need to prepare for this Olympiad at all - to solve problems it’s enough to use logic. But from time to time I still solved them for my own pleasure. More in the summer, since there is very little time during the school year. I took assignments from the linguistics website for schoolchildren, from previous years’ collections, and from the website of the International Linguistic Olympiad.

Most of all I like problems with numerals, the easiest for me are problems with sound correspondences.

I thought that this year I completed the tasks of the Olympiad averagely. Therefore, I was very happy when I found out that I received a first-degree diploma. When entering NSU, this gives 100 points in Russian or a foreign language if the Unified State Examination in these subjects is passed with 75 points or higher.

How the Moscow Traditional Olympiad in Linguistics is organized

The Olympics have been held since 1965. In recent years, it has been organized by the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities and the Faculty of Philology of the National Research University Higher School of Economics with the support of the Moscow Center for Continuing Mathematical Education.

The Olympics consists of three rounds:

1. Qualifying, takes place online.

Its organizers want, first of all, to identify people capable of linguistics. They assess participants' ability to reason logically and apply linguistic intuition.

Knowledge of foreign languages ​​will be required when completing the zero task. To successfully solve problems in linguistics, it is important to navigate other languages ​​and remember that their structure can be radically different from Russian.

An example of a zero assignment in linguistics

Unified State Exam and university admission

I took the Unified State Exam in Russian, mathematics and a foreign language. These are the subjects that are needed for admission to Novosibirsk State University for the specialty “Fundamental and Applied Linguistics”.

I didn’t study with tutors: school preparation and independent study were enough. Since the 9th grade, I have been purchasing courses that interest me on Foxford. For example, I really liked the course on mathematics olympiad problems by Yuri Blinkov. And this year I visited.

All of these courses had great teachers, engaging classes, and interesting homework. I watched the lessons in recordings, and solved the problems when I had time. This was very useful: Foxford courses help prepare for the Unified State Exam and many Olympiads, for example, the All-Russian Olympiad for Schoolchildren.

I am satisfied with the results in languages: in German I have 97 points, in Russian - 98. I also just wrote the Unified State Exam in computer science and received 84 points. But I didn’t prepare for it, I just went to classes.

The other day I was happy to learn that I was enrolled at the university and will continue to study linguistics in September.

;
- 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 some 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.