The United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad (UKLO) is a linguistics competition for primary and secondary school students in the United Kingdom. The competition is divided into four levels: Breakthrough, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced, collectively known as 'Round 1', with the top-scoring 5% of entrants at Advanced level (formerly the top 16 entrants) eligible for a follow-on round, called 'Round 2' and selection for participation in the International Linguistics Olympiad, one of the international science olympiads. In 2009, teams from two schools competed in a pilot competition, with the winners taking part in the international contest as guests of the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad. In 2010, an independent olympiad was created and has taken place every year since.
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 American, Irish and Australian Linguistics Olympiads respectively. 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. In 2015, a new, lowest entry level was introduced, called Breakthrough, with 96 entrants. By 2018, the numbers had increased to 220 in Breakthrough, 1042 at Foundation, 970 at Intermediate and 1650 at Advanced.
The Olympiad has sponsorship and support from various organisations including the British Academy, The Linguistics Association of Great Britain, The British Association for Applied Linguistics, The Philological Society, Routes into Languages, The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, University of Sheffield and The School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
The Olympiad has received coverage in the first and second issues of Babel magazine, as well as in the Francophonie journal and Attain magazine. Olympic athlete Christine Ohuruogu MBE is the patron of UKLO, having completed a Linguistics degree at University College London.
The UK has sent a delegation to the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) every year since 2009, and has competed in 14 olympiads. They have sent 88 participants in 22 teams, selected through UKLO. In competition, teams from the UK have brought home 44 medals (15 gold, 14 silver and 15 bronze), 5 team trophies (2 gold and 3 bronze), 1 first-place team cup, 5 best solution prizes, 17 honourable mentions, and 1 team contest honourable mention. In addition, the UK has sent 7 Repeat Medalists and 4 Dream Teams to the Hall of Fame. 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.
Format
The competition is divided into two rounds. Round 1 is open to all secondary school pupils, while Round 2 is invitation only.
10 linguistic data problems are posed in each year's Round 1 papers, with the Breakthrough paper being 1–3, Foundation 2–5, Intermediate 4–7, and Advanced 6–10. The intention is that each problem is harder than the previous. At Breakthrough, Foundation and Intermediate levels, participants may enter either individually or as part of a group of 2-4 students, and timings and conditions can be decided by schools. At the Advanced level, the competition must take the format of an individual, 2.5 hour test sat under controlled conditions. Certificates are awarded for top-scorers at each level, with the top 5% receiving Gold certificates, the next 10% Silver, and the next 20% Bronze.
As of 2022, winners of a Gold certificate at the Advanced level are invited to participate in Round 2. This is a 3.5 hour paper posing five more problems, some of which require written explanations. High-scoring students again receive certificates, with the top 25% receiving a Distinction, and the next 25% receiving a Merit. About twelve competitors are invited to attend a training camp at a host university, where eight competitors in two teams are selected to participate in the International Linguistics Olympiad and represent the UK. Selection is based mostly on performance in the Round 2 paper and the camp, but past performances at IOL and Round 2 are taken into account. Previously, roughly 16 of the top scorers from the Advanced paper were invited to participate in Round 2, which took the form of a residential training weekend at a host university, followed by the exam.
IOL Teams
Since 2009, the UK has sent teams annually to the IOL.
IOL 2009 +2009 - Wrocław, PolandIOL 2009 ParticipantsIOL 2009 Results Team Name Award GB Ben Caller bronze medal Adam King Ben Miller Alex Sheppard Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2010 + 2010 - Stockholm, SwedenIOL 2010 ParticipantsIOL 2010 Results 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 Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2011 +2011 - Pittsburgh, USAIOL 2011 ParticipantsIOL 2011 Results Team Name Award UK Piotr Gałuszka honourable mention Jessica Hao Jake Lishman Nik Moore bronze medal Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2012 +2012 - Ljubljana, SloveniaIOL 2012 Results Team Name Award UK Melanie Duncan bronze medal Omri Faraggi bronze medal Baichuan Li bronze medal Tom White silver medal Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
Note: This team was entered into the IOL Hall of Fame as a "Dream Team" because all members of the team received a medal.
IOL 2013 +2013 - Manchester, UK 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 Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Nathan Somers
IOL 2014 +2014 - Beijing, ChinaIOL Results 2014 Team Name Award UK Alastair Carr honourable mention Jack Hodkinson Oliver Sayeed Elysia Warner gold medal Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2015 + 2015 - Blagoevgrad, BulgariaIOL 2015 Participants Team Name Award Team Award East Samuel Ahmed gold medal, 2nd place individualSamuel HosegoodNaomi Solomons bronze medalIsobel Voysey honourable mention WestAnthony Bracey silver medal gold trophyEimear McKnight gold medalHarry Taylor honourable mentionStephanie Wong honourable mention Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2016 +2016 - Mysore, India Team Name Award Team Award UK Samuel Ahmed gold medal bronze trophy Zeki Dolen Eimear McKnight gold medal, 3rd place individual, best solution to question 1 Isobel Voysey bronze medal Team Leader: Neil Sheldon
IOL 2017 + 2017 - Dublin, Ireland Team Name Award Team Award Team K Samuel Ahmed gold medal, 1st place individual highest combined individual scoresSimeon Hellsten gold medalKamran Sharifi Harry Taylor silver medal Team UBenjamin Liow Eimear McKnight gold medal, 3rd place individualBen Morris silver medalAlfie Vaughan Team Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Elysia Warner
IOL 2018 + 2018 - Prague, Czechia Team Name Award Team Award Team UEleanor Edwards bronze trophyEdmund Lea bronze medalSelina Wang Sean White bronze medal, best solution to question 3 Team KSimeon Hellsten silver medal "dream team"Eimear McKnight gold medal, 2nd place individualHari Prasad bronze medalBenedict Randall Shaw gold medal Team Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Elysia Warner
IOL 2019 + 2019 - Yongin, South Korea Team Name Award Team Award Team USam Corner gold medal "dream team"Kilian Meissner bronze medalHarrison Moore silver medalAlex Walker bronze medal Team KTommaso Leonardi Simeon Hellsten gold medalDaniel Turaev silver medalBenedict Randall Shaw gold medal Team Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Graeme Trousdale
IOL 2020 The IOL competition in 2020 was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the UK still selected a squad of eight, consisting of Adrian Sahani, Benedict Randall Shaw, Hari Prasad, Kilian Meissner, Robbie Bennett, Sam Corner, Simeon Hellsten, and Soren Choi.
IOL 2021 + 2021 - Ventspils, Latvia Team Name Award Team Award Team UAlex Robson honourable mention, best solution to problem 4 honourable mentionBarnaby Alasdair ColvinHarrison Moore honourable mentionToby Weston honourable mention Team KAanya Goyal honourable mention Keira CummingToby Collins bronze medalXane Miles Team Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Graeme Trousdale
IOL 2022 + 2022 - Castletown, Isle of Man Team Name Award Team Award Team UAlison Craig-Greene gold medal, 3rd place individual Brendan Bethlehem honourable mentionGeorge Zhou silver medalRaka Chattopadhyay Team KAlex Thompson bronze trophyStratos Voudouris silver medalToby Collins silver medalWilliam Thomson silver medal, best solution to problem 3 Team Leaders: Neil Sheldon and Graeme Trousdale
IOL 2023 +2023 - Bansko, Bulgaria Team Name Award Team Award UK Eleanor Borrel bronze medal dream team, gold trophy Alison Craig-Greene silver medal William Thomson gold medal Daniel Titmas silver medal Team Leader: Graeme Trousdale. Observer: Simeon Hellsten
IOL 2024 +2024 - Brasília, Brazil Team Name Award Team Award UK Alison Craig-Greene gold medal, 3rd place individual honourable mention Yipeng Xu gold medal, 4th place individual Claire Yen bronze medal Max Fisher-Ayres honourable mention Team Leader: Simeon Hellsten. Observer: Daniel Turaev
Notes
1.In 2021, the squad of 8 were selected from R2, and a planned training camp was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
References