The Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology organised the first ever Linguistics Olympiad Malta, a competition in the spirit of the International Linguistics Olympiad which is one of 13 International Olympiads in different subjects, the most well-known being the International Mathematical Olympiad. These Olympiads are aimed at pre-University students and involve teams from different countries coming together to test their minds through solving puzzles of different sorts. Preparation started at the beginning of the year.
In close collaboration with a number of local Sixth Forms, notably the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary (GCHSS), Junior College (JC), and Verdala International School (VIS), as well as St Aloysius College (SAC), a number of information sessions were organised in the Schools, whilst one session was held on campus. The sessions were organised in such a way as to get students engaged. A number of puzzles involving unfamiliar data from languages around the globe were provided. Students were required to solve these through the application of logic and by thinking outside the box. For example, one of the puzzles involved deciphering Phoenician script by working out matches to place names on a map. Some of the Schools then organised their own preparation sessions for students intending to participate in the competition and some of our postgraduate students ran sessions with the students to give them tips and strategies for solving the puzzles.
18 students from three Sixth Forms (GCHSS, JC, VIS) took part in the competition which was held at the University of Malta last Thursday 20 April, efficiently run by our Admin staff. A student from the Association of Linguistics and Language Technology welcomed the participants. The concentration in the room throughout the 2½h-long competition was palpable.
Prizes for the winning individual or team/School have been organised through University funding. With the extremely positive experience of this LOM 2023 – Launch Edition under our belt, we hope next year to be in a position to take this initiative a step forward by securing funding which will allow our participation in the International Linguistics Olympiad, which, incidentally, will be held in Rio de Janiero.
This year’s competition featured Gilbertese, an Austronesian language, Shizuoka Japanese, Permyak, a language spoken in the north-eastern part of Russian, Mohawk and Meroitic script used to write the Meroitic language from the 3rd century BCE.
