Ludic Linguistics
The Linguistics Olympiad
The feature article on pages 38 –43 explains the background of the Linguistics Olympiad and gives more
examples of the kind of puzzle that is set in the annual tests. This month we have chosen one of the puzzles from
the International Linguistics Olympiad, which introduces some of the structures and systems of an ancient Aztec
language. We hope readers enjoy the mental exercise.
Explanation and solution on page 49 opposite. (cover the page now!)
Axolotl* in the water
Nahuatl was the language of the Aztec empire, which dominated central Mexico in the fifteenth century.
Some Nahuatl sentences have been translated into English below:
1. Nacatl itlacual in itzcuintli.
The dog eats the meat.
2. Xocolatl notlacual.
I eat the chocolate.
3. Niquitta in itzcuintli.
I see the dog.
4. Quitta in itzcuintli in calli.
The dog sees the house.
5. Nechixcuepa in axolotl ipan in atl.
The axolotl in the water confuses me.
6. Ical in oquichtli ipan in tepetl.
The man’s house is on top of the hill.
7. Quixcuepa in itzcuintli in cihuatl.
The dog confuses the woman.
8. Nipantlalia ipan in milli.
I ride (horseback) on the field.
9. Nechitta notah.
My father sees me.
Now, after that crash course, translate the following:
a. Axolotl tlacualli ipan nocal.
b. Itzcuintli nopan.
c. My father’s father sees the axolotl.
Describe Nahuatl word and sentence formation as concisely and as clearly
as possible; if you prefer, use formulae rather than prose. Someone with no
background knowledge should be able to translate sentences 1–9 and a–c given
your description and a dictionary.
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Babel The Language Magazine | February 2013
Ludic Linguistics
Answers
COMPETITION
a. In my house, the axolotl is food/eaten
b. The dog is on top of me
c. Quitta itah notah in axolotl [deduct 1 per error]
• Word order is VSO
(verb-subject-object). • There is no copula ‘to be.’
• Verbs take prefixes for the
persons of their subjects and
objects: • qu- for third person object,
• ni- for first person subject,
• nech- for first person object.
• We also know that niappears before qu-.
• The bare form of each noun ends
in –tl after vowels, -tli after consonants,
and –li after –l. • If the noun is possessed, it drops
the suffix –tl/tli/li and takes a
prefix for the person of its
possessor: • i- for third person.
• no- for first person.
Then its possessor follows it.
• In exactly the same way,
prepositions (pan, meaning ‘in/on’)
agree with their objects, which
then follow them.
• The bare form always appears with
the preposed particle in, except
sentence-initially (as in 1 and 2).
The particle in never appears unless
the noun is in its bare form. 1
1
2
1
1
1
2
WIN A
BOOK FREE
A
LANG BOUT
UAGE
Creativity isn’t just for artists. Anyone who’s
ever made a groan-inducing pun is being
creative with language, and creativity is
common in language use. Rob Pope’s book
Textual Intervention: Critical and Creative
Strategies for Literary Studies (Routledge, 1994)
introduced a technique for studying texts which relies on
‘intervention’ – i.e. changing the text. This technique is not only
enlightening, it’s fun.
Pope discusses his success in using intervention with students in
class using well-known statements like ‘I think, therefore I am’
(Descartes) and ‘Smoking can damage your health’. The aim is
to change one of more of the words and then to contemplate
the significance of both the new and the original form. Students
might come up with ‘I drink, therefore I am’ as an ironic and
playful version of the famous philosophical phrase. Some of the
effects of this are to demonstrate one of the features of modern
scholarly life as an undergraduate and to make us compare this
with the image of the thinker in Descartes’ version. Intervening in
the health warning on cigarettes packets might lead to ‘Smoking
can enhance your sex appeal’, which highlights the tendency for
cigarette producers to use this as their marketing strategy.
Send us your best interventions on the following phrase from
President Obama’s first election campaign in the US:
Yes, we can!
There are no restrictions on what you can do with the phrase,
except that the intervened version must be recognisably
derived from Obama’s version. You may depart from his
version as far as you want within this general rule and you may
wish your version to reflect differences in your life from those
in Obama’s situation as he ran for U.S. President the first time
- or you could comment on some aspect of social or political
life closer to (your) home. The winner will receive a free book
about language*. The winner will be chosen by the Editors,
whose decision is final.
* Babel reserves the right to change the nature of the prize for this
competition.
2
The winner of the prize for intervention in the phrase from
Hamlet (‘To be, or not to be – that is the question’) is … (drum
roll) Lian Wilkinson with:
2B or not 2B. Who cares, it's still a pencil
Coming up next issue
POST-STROKE LANGUAGE ABILITIES:
Linguist Jerg Schwyter draws from personal
experience to describe the effects of a stroke
on his language use.
LANGUAGE IN CONFLICT:
We introduce a new collaborative
project that examines the use of
language in conflict and conflict
resolution.
PLUS
HYPERPOLYGLOTS:
HISTORY OF SPELLING
Anjali Pandey introduces us to
Simon Horobin accounts for the eccentricities speakers of multiple languages
of English spelling.
from across the globe.
Babel The Language Magazine | February 2013
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