UK LINGUISTICS OLYMPIAD ROUND ONE, February 2010 Foundation Level: 120 minutes Data and questions (Write your

answers on the separate answer sheets.)

Question 1: Sorry we have no red cucumbers (5 marks)
If you buy red onions and peppers, what colour are your purchases? The onions are red, but what about the peppers? Now consider the following French phrases and their translations: oignons rouges poivrons rouges oignons et poivrons red onions red peppers onions and peppers

N.B. You dont have to know French to answer this question, and even if you do know French, it wont be much of an advantage to you! 1.1 (2 marks) Translate each of the following phrases into French maintaining the meanings indicated in the second column. (The French for cucumbers is concombres.) a. red peppers and cucumbers b. red peppers and onions [the cucumbers are definitely not red] [the peppers may or may not be red]

1.2 (2 marks) A dish is described as Scottish beef and mushrooms. Can you determine if these statements are true: a. The beef is unambiguously Scottish. b. the mushrooms are unambiguously Scottish. 1.3 (1 mark) Translate the dish described in 1.2 into French, preserving any ambiguities and certainties present in the English? (Here are the French words you need: beef = boeuf, mushrooms = champignons, Scottish = cossais.)

Page 2

Question 2: Geldas House of Gelbelgarg (10 marks)

Learners of a foreign languages (and computers for that matter) often come across words that they dont know. Sometimes you cant do much more than guess what they mean, but more often there are various clues in the surrounding text that can tell you a lot about the unknown words, as this problem illustrates. On the next page we reproduce a website where customers have rated their most recent experience at Geldas House of Gelbelgarg, a new ethnic restaurant in the city centre. Even if youve never heard of any of the dishes mentioned, you should still be able to work out some things about them 2.1 (8 marks). The restaurant review mentions the following words that you have probably never come across before: bolger, frsel-frsel, flebba, gelbelgarg, gngerplose, gorse-weebel, meembel, rolse Use the reviews to guess what kind of thing each word refers to: A for individual, discrete food items. B for liquids, or masses of uncountably small things. C for containers or measurements. 2.2 (2 marks) Name something you would find in an English restaurant menu which would fit into type A, and another one for type B. (They could be your guess at what kind of thing two of the above are, but they dont have to be.)

Page 3

Geldas House of Gelbelgarg

138 Euclid Ave. Neighbourhood: City centre Category: Ethnic, Specialty Price Range: Hours: Mon-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Sat. 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
mosfel2 Reviews: 2 Report this SanDeE* Reviews: 2 Report this wndlHghs40 Reviews: 5 Report this xMandiee7x Reviews: 4 Report this wrldTrvl1977 Reviews: 11 Report this money@home Reviews: 103 User is on probation bu_zhidao Reviews: 8 Report this wembley2000 Reviews: 2 Report this

based on 18 reviews

A hidden gem in the City Centre! Get the frselfrsel with gorse-weebel and youll have a happy stomach for a week. And top it off with a flebba of sweet bolger while youre at it! The portions at this place are just too big! Id rather have half the portions at a lower price they just bring out too many gngerplose and too much meembel for me. i took my nan here and she said it was just like she remembered from the old country. but the service was a bit lacking nan ordered four gelbelgarg and the waitress only brought two!

Food Service Atmosphere Value Food Service Atmosphere Value Food Service Atmosphere Value

I found the food confusing and disorienting. Where is this from? I randomly ordered the frsel-frsel and had to send them back! Three words: weird, weird, and weird.

Food Service Atmosphere Value

I went to Wolserl last year for a holiday, and this is the real thing. If you order the gelbelgarg, though, make sure you also get at least one rolse of sweetbolger its how the locals like it!

Food Service Atmosphere Value

the prices are steep, but i can afford them i make up to 45/hr working at home! find out how i do it at http://bit.ly/grhCm

Food Service Atmosphere Value Food Service Atmosphere Value Food Service Atmosphere Value

not a great date spot! i got a gelbelgarg and a rolse of meembel, but my date was so disoriented that she just ended up with some gorse-weebel. :/

The food was pretty good But I would have liked more gorse-weebel and fewer gngerplose. You really feel like the chef is skimping on the good stuff..

Page 4

Question 3: Say it in Abma (15 marks)

Abma is an Austronesian language spoken in parts of the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu by around 8,000 people. Carefully study these Abma sentences, then use the answer sheet to answer the questions. Note that there is no separate word for the or he in these Abma sentences. Mwamni sileng. Nutsu mwatbo mwamni sileng. Nutsu mwegau. Nutsu mwatbo mwegalgal. Mworob mwabma. Mwerava Mabontare mwisib. Mabontare mwisib. Mweselkani tela mwesak. Mwelebte sileng mwabma. Mabontare mworob mwesak. Sileng mworob. He drinks water. The child keeps drinking water. The child grows. The child keeps crawling. He runs here. He pulls Mabontare down. Mabontare goes down. He carries the axe up. He brings water. Mabontare runs up. The water runs.

Now, here are some new words in Abma: sesesrakan (teacher), mwegani (eat), bwet (taro, a kind of sweet potato), muhural (walk), butsukul (palmtree) 3.1 (10 marks) Translate the following sentences into Abma. a. The teacher carries the water down. b. The child keeps eating. c. Mabontare eats taro. d. The child crawls here. e. The teacher walks downhill. f. The palmtree keeps growing upwards. g. He goes up. 3.2 (5 marks) Translate these Abma sentences into English: a. Sesesrakan mweselkani bwet mwabma. b. Sileng mworob mwisib. c. Mwelebte bwet mwesak.

Page 5

Question 4: Lost in Yerevan

(10 marks)

Millie has got lost in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. She is at the station named Shengavit but her friends are waiting for her at the station named Barekamoutyun. Some other stations are called Gortsaranain, Zoravar Andranik, Charbakh and Garegin Njdehi Hraparak. Your answers on the question sheet, based on this metro map, can help Millie meet up with her friends.

4.1 (5 marks) Assuming Millie takes a train in the right direction, which will be the first stop after Shengavit? (Give the name of the station transcribed into English.) 4.2 (2 marks) How many stops will it take Millie to get from Shengavit to Barekamoutyun (counting the next stop as one, the one after that as two, and so on)?

4.3 (3 marks) Transcribe into English the name of the station at the end of the proposed line which has just four stations. (The character that looks like S is, in fact, T!)

Page 6

Question 5: Turkish delight

(25 marks)

Here are some Turkish words and their English translations. The Turkish words are all formed by a stem and an ending (or suffix); for instance, grei consists of grefollowed by -i. grei gzc ikbalsiz isimsiz ormanc sonsuz ikici takatsiz barutu stsz balk parasz mumcu wrestler lookout, optician unsuccessful nameless forester endless drunkard lacking strength gunpowder maker lacking milk fisherman cashless candlemaker Pronunciation notes: , c and like the first consonant in church, job, shoe. e, i are like in pet, pit, with the lips spread. and are like e and i, but with the lips rounded. o and u are like pot and put, with the lips rounded. a and (NB: no dot) are like o and u, but with the lips spread.

5.1 (4 marks) Two of the above words are exceptions because they are loanwords from another language, and so dont follow the same rules that the other words follow. Which two words are they? 5.2 (4 marks) Translate into Turkish: (a) milkman (b) blind. (NB Make sure you distinguish i and in your answer; it is better not to use capital letters.) 5.3 (8 marks) Here are two more Turkish words (which are not loanwords): dil (language), kalp (form, shape) Translate into Turkish: (a) linguist (b) mute (c) moulder (i.e someone who makes moulds or shapes things) (d) shapeless (Again, make sure you distinguish i and in your answer; it is better not to use capital letters.) 5.4 (9 marks) a. What rules determine how the consonants in these suffixes vary from word to word? b. What rules determine how the vowels in these suffixes vary from word to word?