United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad
| UKLO | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Linguistics Olympiad |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Venue | Nationwide |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Inaugurated | 2009 |
| Participants | c.3000 |
| Patron(s) | Christine Ohuruogu |
| Website | |
| http://www.uklo.org | |
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 7 olympiads. They have sent 40 participants in 10 teams, selected through UKLO. In competition, teams from the UK have brought home 13 medals (3 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronze), 1 gold trophy, 1 best solution prize, and 12 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 on 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.
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| GB | Ben Caller | honourable mention |
| Adam King | ||
| Ben Miller | ||
| Alex Sheppard |
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig Bohrson | honourable mention |
| Alison Coxon | ||
| Imogen Nelson | ||
| Younus Porteous | bronze medal | |
| 2 | Helen Hambling | |
| Sarah O'Keeffe | ||
| Carl Rietschel | honourable mention | |
| Nathan Somers | best solution to question 5 |
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Piotr Gałuszka | honourable mention |
| Jessica Hao | ||
| Jake Lishman | ||
| Nik Moore | bronze medal |
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Melanie Duncan | bronze medal |
| Omri Faraggi | bronze medal | |
| Baichuan Li | bronze medal | |
| Tom White | silver medal |
Note: This team was entered into the IOL Hall of Team as a "Dream Team" because all members of the team received a medal. [21]
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| North | Omri Faraggi | silver medal |
| Harry Goodhew | honourable mention | |
| Sam Heath | ||
| Neema Kotonya | honourable mention | |
| South | Daniel Pitt | honourable mention |
| Oliver Sayeed | ||
| Theo Tindall | honourable mention | |
| Elysia Warner | honourable mention |
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Alastair Carr | honourable mention |
| Jack Hodkinson | ||
| Oliver Sayeed | ||
| Elysia Warner | gold medal |
| Team | Name | Award | Team Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| East | Samuel Ahmed | gold medal | |
| Samuel Hosegood | |||
| Naomi Solomons | bronze medal | ||
| Isobel Voysey | honourable mention | ||
| West | Anthony Bracey | silver medal | gold trophy |
| Liam McKnight | gold medal | ||
| Harry Taylor | honourable mention | ||
| Stephanie Wong | honourable mention |
| Team | Name | Award |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Samuel Ahmed | |
| Zeki Dolen | ||
| Liam McKnight | ||
| Isobel Voysey |
References
- ↑ "Olympic flame burns for young linguists - The Yorker". theyorker.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "UK Linguistics Olympiad". all-languages.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "UKLO 2013 News". March 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- ↑ "British Academy Sponsorship". February 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ↑ "UK Linguistics Olympiad registration for 2012 | Routes Into Languages". routesintolanguages.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "Babel – The language magazine – No 1" (PDF). 24 October 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ↑ Hudson, Richard; Rogers, Vivienne (21 June 2011). "Going for gold with languages" (PDF). Francophonie (44): 22–27. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ↑ "Attain Magazine · Issue 16 · Autumn 2011". attainmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "Christine Ohuruogu". February 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ↑ "The UK at the IOL: Results". August 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- ↑ "BBC iPlayer - Word of Mouth: Language Games". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "uklo 2012 - Language and Linguistic Science, The University of York". york.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "St Mary’s Hosts the Finals of the UK Linguistics Olympiad". smuc.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ IOL 2009 Participants
- ↑ IOL 2009 Results
- ↑ ILO 2010 Participants
- ↑ ILO 2010 Results
- ↑ ILO 2011 Participants
- ↑ ILO 2011 Results
- ↑ ILO 2012 Results
- ↑ http://www.ioling.org/hall_of_fame/
- ↑ "International Linguistics Olympiad - 2013". ioling.org. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ "Action Network Magazine - Issue 101 - Joomag". joomag.com. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
- ↑ IOL Results 2014
- ↑
- ↑ IOL 2015 Participants
- ↑ "2016 | UKLO". uklo.org. Retrieved 2016-04-24.