First Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad: Solutions
First Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad: Solutions
First Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad: Solutions
Problem 1. Rules
• 10 = tomíní 10 = tomínékwa (2 ≤ ≤ 9)
100 = ŋamɪá kɔn 100 = ŋamɪá (2 ≤ ≤ 9)
1000 = álifa kɔn 1000 = álifika (2 ≤ ≤ 999)
cf. tomíní (< Turkana tomon), ŋamɪá, álifa (< Swahili mia, elfu)
!
• túde ńda kɪɗɪ ( = 1)
5+ =
túde ńda kiɗi (2 ≤ ≤ 4)
!
10 ńda nɛ́bɛɛ (1 ≤ ≤ 9, = 1)
10 + =
10 ńda ʝɪrɪnɪ (1 ≤ ≤ 9, 2 ≤ ≤ 9)
100 + = 100 ńda (1 ≤ ≤ 9, 10 ≤ ≤ 99)
1000 + = 1000 ńda (1 ≤ ≤ 999, 100 ≤ ≤ 999)
Answers
(c) 3108 — álifika aɗe ńda ŋamɪá kɔn ńda túde ńda kiɗi aɗ
(d) 14641 — álifika tomíní ńda ʝɪrɪnɪ tsʼaɡúsé ńda ŋamɪá túde ńda kɪɗɪ kɔn ńda
tomínékwa tsʼaɡúsé ńda nɛ́bɛɛ kɔn
First Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad (2019). 2
Solutions
Problem 2. Rules
✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎
2. Verb structure:
— Aspect — Subject —✝Politeness ✆
Object —✝STEM ✆
✝ ✆ ✝ ✆✝ ✆ ✝ ✆
— Question
• Object:
Stem begins with
1st person singular ka- k-
2nd person singular i- dʒ-
3rd person singular ∅- ∅-
( = consonant, = vowel)
• Aspect:
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪ -∅ ‘...-ed ...’
⎪
⎨-si
! ‘... had finished -ing ...’
⎪
⎪
⎪ -he if stem ends with -a
⎪
⎩ -ahe ‘... was -ing ...’
otherwise
• Subject: 2nd person singular -i, 3rd person singular -a.
• Politeness: -tɕe
– Used when communicating with adults of the opposite sex.
– Exception for males: The marker is used when speaking with son-in-laws/father-
in-laws.
!
-na positive question
• Question:
-ne negative question
Problem 3. Rules
✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✞ ☎✄ ' ✞ ☎
1. Verb structure:
Negation —✝Benefactive ✆ —✂Tense ✁— Subject
— Dual subject — Object —✝STEM ✆
✝ ✆ ✝ ✆✝ ✆ ✝ ✆
• Negation: tee- • Tense:
• Benefactive (‘for ...’): !
-p past (̸= today)
singular plural -g past (today)
1st person na- niya-
2nd person ka- kiya- • Subject:
3rd person ya- —
singular plural
• Dual subject: aa- 1st person -a -e
• Object: 2nd person -e -aa
singular plural 3rd person -i -ai
1st person na- ne-
2nd person ka- ke-
3rd person e- e-
reciprocal aka-
Answers
(c) 21. kameepi — (1) He brought you(sg); (2) He came for you(sg).
22. edoope — (1) You(sg) saw him; (2) You(sg) saw them; (3) We saw him; (4) We saw
them.
First Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad (2019). 4
Solutions
Problem 4. Rules
1. Verb roots: g-d-l — grow up; z-k-n — grow old; kh-l — eat; h-v — love; g-n-v — steal;
k(∼x)-t-v — write; b-t-l — shame; sh-m-r — guard.
Answers
Problem 5.
(a)
1. 𐰤𐰼 ärän men
(b)
𐰢𐰏𐰠𐰇 = ölägäm, ölägim, ölgäm, ölgüm, ölügäm, ölügüm,
ülägäm, ülägim, ülgäm, ülgüm, ülügäm, ülügüm.
𐰋 𐰤 𐱅 𐰓 𐰾 𐰼 𐰠 𐰘 𐰚 (k) 𐰏 (g)
Front (ä/i/ö/ü)
𐰢 (m), 𐰔 (z), 𐰲 (č), 𐱁 (š) and 𐰭 (ŋ) do not have front/back glyph pairs.
3. Rules for writing vowels (+: written, −: not written):
Vowels Letter (1) (2) (3) (4)
ö/ü 𐰇 + + + −
4. Syllable structure ( = consonant, = vowel):
• first syllable:
• elsewhere:
5. The rounded low vowels o and ö appear only in the first syllable.