United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad

The United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad (UKLO) is a linguistics competition for primary and secondary school students in the United Kingdom.^[1][2] The competition began in 2009, with teams from two schools competing as guests of the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad, and has taken place every year since as an independent olympiad. The competition is divided into three levels, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced, with top-scoring entrants at Advanced level eligible for a follow-on round, and selection for participation in the International Linguistics Olympiad, one of the international science olympiads. The number of students participating across the three levels was around 3000 in 2013.^[3]

History

Problem-solving competitions in linguistics for secondary school students have been taking place around the world since the 1960s. In Russia, the Moscow and St Petersburg Linguistic Olympiads are credited with inspiring hundreds of young talented scholars to choose linguistics as an academic major and profession. Currently there are national contests within Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. There is also an International Linguistics Olympiad in which students from many countries compete, which began in 2003, and was first hosted by Bulgaria.

In 2009, two UK schools, the Manchester Grammar School and Downlands Community School, took part as guests in the Irish competition, and the winning team represented the UK at the International Olympiad. This triggered the foundation of a permanent committee for the UK Linguistics Olympiad, and the creation of a consortium of olympiads held in English-speaking countries, ELCLO, as a means for pooling resources with NACLO, AILO and OzCLO. The UKLO committee is chaired by Dick Hudson, with Neil Sheldon serving as vice-chair.

In 2010, 560 students from 28 schools entered, 223 at Foundation, and 337 at Advanced level. In 2011, 1165 entries were received from 49 schools, 349 at Foundation, and 816 at Advanced level. 2012 saw the introduction of the Intermediate level, with 1912 entries from 300 schools, 432 at Foundation, 498 at Intermediate and 982 at Advanced level. 2013 saw total entries number 2878, with 1069 at Foundation, 643 at Intermediate and 1166 at Advanced level.

The Olympiad has sponsorship and support from various organisations including the British Academy,^[4] The Linguistics Association of Great Britain, The British Association for Applied Linguistics, The Philological Society, Routes into Languages,^[5] The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Sheffield University and The School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, Edinburgh University.

The Olympiad has received coverage in the first and second issues of Babel magazine,^[6] as well as in the Francophonie journal^[7] and Attain magazine.^[8] Olympic athlete Christine Ohuruogu MBE is the patron of UKLO, having completed a Linguistics degree at UCL.^[9]

The UK has sent a delegation to the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) every year since 2009, and has competed in 6 olympiads. They have sent 32 participants in 8 teams, selected through UKLO. In competition, teams from the UK have brought home 9 medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze), 1 best solution prize, and 9 honourable mentions. In addition, UK has sent 1 Repeat Medalist and 1 Dream Team to the Hall of Fame.^[10] The UK Linguistics Olympiad was the host for the 2013 IOL, held at the Manchester Grammar School and chaired by Neil Sheldon. The competition in Manchester was featured on an edition of BBC Radio Four's Word of Mouth programme centring around language games.^[11]

Format

At Foundation and Intermediate level, participants may enter either individually or as part of a group of 2-4 students, with timing and conditions decided by schools. At Advanced level, the competition takes the format of an individual, two and a half hour test sat under controlled conditions, posing five linguistic data problems of varying complexity. The competition at Advanced level consists of two rounds. The first round is open to all entrants, and is administered by schools. The top scorers on this round advance to Round 2, which takes the form of a residential training weekend at a host university,^[12][13] followed by a three hour test posing five more problems. The top four scorers from Round 2 are invited to participate in the International Linguistics Olympiad, representing the UK.

IOL Teams

Since 2009, the UK has sent teams annually to the IOL.

References