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Title: The%20North%20American%20Compuational%20Linguistics%20Olympiad

1
The North American Compuational Linguistics
Olympiad

Havent you always wanted to see Bulgaria?

2
What NACLO Is

A challenge where high school students compete on
the field of linguistic, computational, and
analytic battle.
Based around using creativity and logic to solve
puzzles that involve human languages and language
technologies.
No prior knowledge of linguistics or computer
science is required--all you need is a brain.

3
Linguistic Olympiads

This family of contests began in the Soviet Union
during the mid-1960s.
Several years ago, and international competition
was started.
Last year was the first year a US team
participated.
Despite the newness of this competition in North
America, our team won! The top score was from a
member of the US team.
Lets continue to show the world that we are
smarter than our television programming and test
scores would seem to indicate!

4
NACLO Pittsburgh

First Round
February 5, at CMU location
Registration at 900, contest starts at 1000
3 hours of challenging puzzles.
Second Round
March 11, at CMU location
Harder puzzles, higher stakes
The best contestants in the second round
(nationwide) will be selected for the American
National Team

5
ILO

The International Linguistic Olympiad will be
held in Bulgaria in late July.
Pending budgetary approval, the basic travel
expenses of the US Team will be paid by NACLO.
The team will also attend a summer training camp,
either in the US or in Bulgaria.

6
What Linguistics Is

Or, how, if somebody asks me how many languages I
speak one more time, I will strangle her.

7
What is Linguistics?

Linguistics is, ostensibly (SAT word!) the
scientific study of language.
I would argue that this is technically untrue,
but it is a useful myth to perpetuate because it
makes us look less silly when we ask the National
Science Foundation for grant money.
What, then, is linguistics?

8
Linguists like languages, but they love Language

Language is fully of what I call mundane
mysteries.
We use language every day, none of us really
knows for certain what we are doing when we use
it.
Language use seems effortless for us, but it
involves knowing and following a broad range of
rules and conventions that govern...
how to form words
how to form sentences
What kinds of words, sentences, and
pronunciations can be used in a particular
context or situation.

9
Rules you know you know

We know some rules of language
Dont end sentences with prepositions (unless you
have nothing else to end them with).
Only use a double negative if you mean a
positive.
What else?
Most linguists are not particularly interested in
these rules.
They will tell you that some of them were just
made up by bitter English teachers in order to
make the writing of essays less pleasurable.

10
Rules you know but dont know you know

There are other rules, often more intricate, that
we all know as speakers of a language, but of
which we are not usually aware.
Example you cannot put reflexive pronouns
(himself, herself, itself, yourself, etc.) the
same places where you can put normal pronouns
(him, her, it you).
Where do you put each kind?
Not so easy, is it? You follow a rule 99 of the
time, without even being able to say what it is!

11
Linguistics is about saying it.

Linguists try to make precise and falsifiable
statements about what the unspoken rules of
Language are, in many areas
The patterns in language sounds.
The structure of words.
The structure of sentences.
The structure of discourse.
The social use of language.
The ways and reasons languages change.

12
Expletive Infixation

It's not just for swearing anymore.

13
Expletive Infixation

Expletive infixation is a fancy name for what you
do when you put an expletive (a swearword, curse,
etc.) inside of another word.
You know these expletives, and its a good thing,
because we cant say most of them in a high
school.
Well use bloomin in order to downplay our edgy,
hipster image.

14
Examples

Here are some examples of expletive infixation
Pennsyl-bloomin-vania
Minne-bloomin-sota
exo-bloomin-skeleton
impe-bloomin-cunious

15
Where does the expletive go?

California
Massachusetts
Alabama
Indiana
Based on these examples, where in the word do you
put the expletive?

16
Where does the expletive go?

Cà.li.fór.nia
Mà.ssa.chú.setts
À.la.bá.ma
Ìn.di.á.na
Based on these examples, where in the word do you
put the expletive?

17
But what about these?

Vermont
Nevada
biology
cohesion
macguyverism

18
But what about these?

Ver.mónt
Ne.vá.da
bi.ó.lo.gy
co.hé.sion
mac.gúy.ver.ism

19
Ah, but there are problems

Where do expletive infixes go in the following
words?
Cárrick
Mífflin
Téxas
And what about these?
Gréenfield
Hómewood
What's the problem here?

20
The story so far

We try to place the expletive immediately before
a stressed syllable (but not necessarily
immediately before a stressed vowel).
We try to place the expletive after the first
syllable, though not always immediately after the
first syllable.
Sometimes we cannot satisfy both of these
constraints.

21
The story so far

When we can't do both, we have to decide where to
compromise.
In what cases do we put the expletive at the very
beginning of a word?
In what cases do we put the expletive before an
unstressed syllable?
In compound wordswords made out of two smaller
wordswe seem to prefer putting the word at the
break between smaller words.

22
A final puzzle

Consider two final examples
ìrrespónsible
ùnrelíable
Same number of syllables
Same stress pattern
s strong (stressed)?
w weak (unstressed)?
swsww

23
A final puzzle

Most speakers of English prefer
irre-bloomin'-sponsible
un-bloomin'-reliable
Why the difference?
sw-EXPL-sww (what we expected)?
s-EXPL-wsww (not what we expected)?

24
A final puzzle

Ah, ha! you say, unreliable has a prefix, and
the expletive goes between the prefix and the
rest of the word.
Problem irresponsible also has a prefix.
responsible irresponsible
regular irregular
redeemable irredeemable
However, it turns out than un- and ir- are
different kinds of prefixes.

25
A final puzzle

Doesn't change.
unbelievable
unmentionable
undecided
unnerving
unrealistic
unleavened
ungrateful

Does change
imbalance
immobile
indefinite
innocuous
irreligious
illegible
ingratitude

Compare unnerving and innocuous is the n the
same in both words, or is it longer in one? Which
one?
26
Expletive infixation and our knowledge of language

At first glance, expletive infixation looks quite
inane, and not terribly complicated.
However, on closer examination, we find that...
We have clear intuitions about how to do it.
These intuitions are based on a rather clear set
of rules, of which we are not consciously aware.
These rules intersect with others in intricate
ways.

27
Because Swahili is for Learners

A puzzle to get started.

28
Match the Words

Swahili
mbuzi
kibuzi
mgeni
jito
mtu
jitu

English
man
giant (large man)
kid (young goat)
goat
big river
guest

29
Strategies

Look for recurring elements
recurring sequences of sounds (letters)
recurring aspects of meaning
Group like with like.
Assume the principle of least coincidence
When choosing between hypotheses (about how to
divide words up, about what parts mean, etc.)
choose the hypothesis that makes the fewest
patterns look accidental.
The more patterns you are able to factor out of
the data by applying your hypothesis, the more
likely it is to be on the right track.

30
A Problem from a Mysterious Language of Ancient
Mongolia

Or, who did what to whose what?

31
Baby Steppes

You will see some sentences from
Orkhono-Yeniseyan translated into English.
Orkhono-Yeniseyan was a language anciently spoken
in parts of Central Asia.
Scrolls containing the language were found in
Mongolia near the confluence of the Orkhon and
Yenisey rivers (with which, I assume, we are all
familiar), thus the name.
You will figure out the meanings of the words,
and a little bit of the grammar, so that you can
translate two sentences from OY to English and
from English to OY (becuause you are just that
devious).

Oghuling baliqigh alti. Yalls son conquered
the city.
Baz oghuligh yangilti. The vassal betrayed the
son.
Siz baliqimizin buzdingiz. Yall destroyed our
city.
Qaghanimiz oghulingin yangilti. Our king
betrayed yalls son.
Oghulim barqingin buzdi My son destroyed
yalls house.
Siz qaghanigh yangiltingiz. Yall betrayed the
king.
Biz baliqigh altimiz. We conquered the city.
Bazim qaghanimizin yangilti. My vassal betrayed
our king.

To the left are the sentences to get you
started. Here are the sentences you should
translate
Qaghan baliqigh alti
Men barqigh buzdim.
The son conquered your city.
The king betrayed the vassal.
Yalls vassal destroyed my house.

33
Conclusion

If you thought that was fun (and to be perfectly
frank, it was), please join us on February 5th,
2008, for the second annual NACLO-Pittsburgh.
For more information on NACLO, visit our new
website athttp//www.naclo.cs.cmu.edu/

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