Panini Linguistics Olympiad 2014 (JUNIORS)

Round 1, 11th January 2015

Solutions to the Problems

Problem #1: Lepcha

Like all Brahmi derived scripts, Lepcha is an Abugida and is written from left to right.

The CV (Consonant-vowel) syllables are written by writing down the consonant and the V is

marked by a diacritic. E.g., ᰛ (r) +◌ᰦ (aa)= ᰛᰦ (raa) in Rai (the a here is a long aa like the a in “art”).

o Some diacritics are written before the consonant (e.g., ᰜ (l)+ ᰧ◌ (i) = ᰧᰜ (li)) o Long vowels are represented by the diacritic (◌ᰶ). But certain long vowels, like oo

has special symbols ᰩ◌ which is essentially ᰨ◌ᰶ (therefore, ᰨ is short o) o The vowel short a (the sound of u in fun) is the default sound and is not represented by any

diacritic. E.g., Magar = ᰕ (ma) + ᰃᰲ (gar) CVC syllables are expressed as the CV syllables along with a diacritic for the last consonant. E.g., ren

= ᰛ (r) + ◌ᰬᰬ (e) + ◌ᰰ (n) =ᰛᰰᰬ This is different from many other Brahmi derived scripts

where the last consonant is attached to the next syllable. Only some consonants can occur in the

syllable final position: m, n, ng, r, p, t etc.

The diacritic for the syllable-final ng is an exception because it precedes the initial consonant. Thus,

mang is written as ᰴ (ng) + ᰕ (m) + ◌ᰦ (aa) =ᰴᰕᰦ CCV syllables, where the only allowable consonants in the second position are r, y, or l (the problem

provides example of only r in Drendzongke), are written with special diacritics as well. E.g., ᰌ (d) +

◌ᰥ (r) + ◌ᰬ (e) + ◌ᰰ (n) = ᰌᰥᰰᰬ (dren) V syllables are written with a dummy consonant (ᰣ) marker with the vowel diacritic. e.g., i = ᰧᰣ

The Lepcha consonants used in this problem are: n = ᰍ, p =ᰎ, l = ᰜ, ch = ᰆ, d = ᰌ, dz (j) =ᰙ, k=ᰀ, t=ᰊ, m =ᰕ, b =ᰓ, w =ᰢ, r=ᰛ, g=ᰃ, s=ᰠ, sh=ᰡ, h= ᰝ, dummy (used for vowels) = ᰣ

The Lepcha vowel diacritics used in the problem are: aa=◌ᰦ, i=ᰧ◌, u=◌ᰪ, e=◌ᰬ, oo=ᰩ◌

The Lepcha consonant diacritics (i.e., syllable final consonants) used in this problem are: p=◌ᰱ, n=◌ᰰ, ng=

ᰴ◌, m = ◌ᰮ, r=◌ᰲ, t= ◌ᰳ,

Assignment 1 Answer

Language Name SIKKIMESE

Assignment 2

ᰛᰰᰬᰴᰩᰙᰕᰪ Renjoongmu or Rendzoongmu

ᰊᰦᰮᰴᰠᰦᰕᰪ Taamsaangmu

ᰧᰝᰜᰦᰮᰕᰪ Hilaammu

ᰨᰎᰥᰕᰪ Promu

Assignment 3 Transcribe Kangchenjunga

ᰴᰀᰦᰆᰰᰬᰴᰩᰙᰃᰦ

Notes: *Some of the spellings have been slightly changed (especially, in use of long and short vowels) to make the problem

solvable. **The symbol for syllable final ng is actually ᰵ, but ᰴ has been used instead due to some font related issues.

Problem #2: Valman

The conjunction and in Valman agrees with the words it connects in person, number and gender. The root

of the conjunction is –a–. The agreement makers are as follows (“left” means ‘to the left side of the

conjunction’ and “right” means ‘to the right side of the conjunction’):

1st person Singular m- (left), p- (right)

2nd person Singular n- (left), ch- (right)

3rd person Singular masc n- (left), -n (right)

3rd person Singular fem w- (left), NULL (right)

3rd person Plural y- (left), -y (right)

Note that ch- and p-, even though used as an agreement marker for the right argument appears before

the root.

Assignment Answer the chieftain and you ncha

the guest and the hosts nay

your neighbours and I ypa

you and the guests’ wives nay

my brother and the chieftain nan

me and the chieftains may

grandmother and my wife wa

The same conjunction (nay) is used in the translations of the phrases you and the guests’ wives and the

guest and the hosts, because the agreement markers for the 3rd person Singular masc and for the 2nd

person Singular are identical: n- and n-.

Problem #3: Cherokee Numerals

Numbers from one to ten are specific words, namely sowo [1], tali [2], tsoi [3], nvgi [4], hisgi [5], sudali

[6], galiquogi [7], and sgohi [10]. The words for 8 and 9 are tsunela and sonela respectively, which cannot

be inferred from the given data and are not required to solve this problem. From eleven to nineteen,

numbers are built by adding the suffix -du after the unit which can slightly change phonetically: talidu =

tali+du = 12, hisgadu = hisga+du = 15, etc. The tens are formed by adding the suffix -sgohi at the end of

the matching digit: hisgisgohi = hisgi+sgohi [50], sudalisgohi = sudali+sgohi = 60 etc. From twenty-one to

ninety-nine, the numbers are made by saying the ten with its last syllable -hi removed, then the unit. Thus,

65 = 60 + 5 = sudalisgohi + hisgi = sudalisgo hisgi.

Note that 1 is sowo, but whenever it comes as the unit place digit in a two digit number, the form

“sawo” is used.

Assignment 1 Correspondence

Cherokee Translation Cherokee Translation

sudalisgo hisgi 65 talidu 12

sowo 1 nvgisgo sawo 41

hisgadu 15 tsoigo tsoi 33

hisgi 5 galiquadu 17 galiquogi 7 hisgisgohi 50

galiquasgohi 70 galiquasgo sudali 76

talisgohi 20 daladu 16

Assignment 2 Cherokee Translations 36 tsoigo sudali

55 hisgisgo hisgi

6 sudali

60 sudalisgohi

21 talisgo sawo

Assignment 3 Answers talisgo sudali 26

sudalisgo sudali 66

hisgisgo nvgis 54

Problem #4: Turkish News and Conversation

In Turkish,

1. There are two forms of the verb in past tenses: direct and indirect

2. The suffixes di/dı/dü indicate the direct form

3. The suffixes miş/mış/müş indicate the indirect form

4. The form of the suffix that is used depends on the vowel preceding it.

Preceding Vowel Vowel in Suffix

a ı

i i

ü ü

Assignment Answer Assignment 1: Which is the original

report? 1 or 2 Report 2

Assignment 2: Translate to English From the data provided in the problem, it should be possible to translate the underlined phrases, except for the parts in the parenthesis.

Bakan yorum yapmaya müsait değilmiş. The minister was not available (for comment).

Daha önce hastaymış, şu an iyileşiyor. He was sick (and) is (now) recovering.

12 Mart'ta şehir merkezinde görülmüş. He was seen at the town centre on

12th March.

Bakan en son 12 Mart'ta şehir

merkezinde görüldü.

The minister was (last) seen at the town centre on

12th March.

Gazetemiz ona ulaşmaya çalıştığında

yorum yapmaya müsait değildi.

(When our newspaper tried to contact him, he) was not

available (for comment)

Daha önce hastaydı, şu an iyileşiyor. (He) was sick earlier, but is recovering (now).

Problem #5: Pashto

If you group the sentences according to tense and aspect (“have broken” is perfect aspect, whereas “is

breaking” is imperfect or continuous), you would observe the following patterns:

● The verb form depends on tense and aspect.

● In the imperfective aspect, there is only one verb – the main verb.

○ In the present imperfective, the verb agrees with the subject.

○ In the past imperfective, the verb agrees with the object.

● Window and door belongs to two different noun classes (similar to Hindi – where window or

khirki is feminine and door or darwaazaa is masculine), so they agree with different verb forms.

● In the present perfective, there is a main verb (e.g., broken) and an auxiliary verb (e.g., has).

○ the main verb agrees with the object

○ the auxiliary agrees with the subject.

The verb forms for “break” are as follows:

Subject Object = door Object = window

Aspect You (2nd person)

Sangin (3rd person)

Singular Plural Singular Plural

Present Imperfect

maatawey maatawi -- -- -- --

Past Imperfect

-- -- NA maatawel NA maataweli

Present Perfective

-- -- maat NA maata maati

Auxiliary key ki -- -- -- --

NA: Data not available to infer these forms.

Assignment Pashto Translations 1) You have broken the door. Taaso war maat key

2) You have broken the doors. Cannot be translated because the verb form cannot be inferred from the data.

3) Sangin has broken the windows. Sangin kerkeyi maati ki

4) Sangin is breaking the doors. Sangin waruna maatawi

5) You are breaking the door. Taaso war maatawey

6) Sangin was breaking the door. Cannot be translated because the verb form canot be inferred from the data.

7) You were breaking the windows. Taaso kerkeyi maataweli

Problem #6: Finnish

Observe that there are three words ending with “kone”: lentokone, hautomakone and tietokone. Three words

beginning with “sähkö”: sähköposti, sähköinen raha, and sähkönkirjoitus; and three words having the

morpheme “puh”: puhua, puhelin and matkapuhelin. Among the English words, to talk, telephone and

cellphone are related. Similarly, computer, incubator and possibly airplane, cellphone and telephone are

related (all some sort of machines). Email and e-cash are also related (and possibly blog); write and type

are also related. Furthermore, observe that the word “posti” sounds similar to post, tekniikka sounds similar

to technology. Based on these observations, you can try to make assumptions of the type: puhua = talk, or

kone = electronic or digital, or tietotekniikka = Information Technology. Then try to relate all the words

based on your assumption. Eventually, you can arrive at the correct mapping.

Finnish English Translation Finnish English Translate. hautoma to hatch lentokone = lento

+ kone airplane = flying + machine

aikamatkailija =

aika + matka + ilija Time traveler = time + journey + doer

sähkönkirjoitus =

sähkön + kirjoitus to type = electronic + write

sähköposti =

sähkö + posti Email = electronic + post

aika time

linja Service tietokone =

tieto + kone computer = information + machine

hautomakone =

hautoma + kone incubator = hatching + machine

puhelin telephone

matkapuhelin =

matka + puhelin cellphone = travel + phone

puhua to talk

nettipäiväkirja =

netti + päiväkirja blog = net + diary

linja-auto Bus

sähköinen raha

e-cash = electronic money

tietotekniikka =

tieto + tekniikka Information Technology

kirjoitus to write Assignment 2 Finnish Translations

Diary PÄIVÄKIRJA

Journey MATKA

Flight / To Fly LENTO

Assignment 3 English Translations

matkatietokone =

matka + tietokone Laptop or tablet (travel + computer)

sähkön electronic or electricity

tieto linja Information Service or Information line

kirjoituskone =

kirjoitus + kone Typewriter (writing + machine)