Thoughts of IOL (Linguistics Olympiad) Study

Guestbook

PART 1 THE LINGUISTICS WINTER CAMP

The IOL (Linguistics Olympiad) winter camp is over today. I have got a new understanding of linguistics in the four days of online training. Before studying linguistics, I thought that it as an unpredictable subject. However, after learning it, I discovered that it is actually closely related to our world.

We learned basic knowledge, such as phonetics, phonology, language family, semantics, morphology, syntax and so on. We also learned how to solve problems. The problem-solving process is like doing fieldwork – deciphering a new language.

I learned that languages are regular. I learned vowel, consonants and their different ways of pronunciation. I also studied the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is an outstanding contribution of linguists to the world. I learned about root affixes and the rules of word formation. At the same time, the teachers prepared many related questions for us. We analyzed the expression rules of these strange languages, and then infer the meaning of other compound words and sentences through the translations we already know.

In this study, I learned many new languages, which refreshed the world in my heart. I never expected that civilizations were so diverse. At the same time, when summarying the language rules, I also found that these languages have a lot in similar. As a result, I can’t help but admire the magic of the world. In addition, during the process of analyzing, I also exercised my thinking ability. I find that I am more organized and can think more logically.

I believe that this winter camp will have a profound impact on my future research.

Thanks to my teachers and teammates!

PART 2 LINGUISTICS & IOL AND I

I had studied interpretation for a while a long, long time ago. At that time, I was curious that each language could be converted to each other and the meanings were almost the same. After entering high school, I started to learn IELTS and learn German as a second foreign language. At this time I found that the language is indeed regular.

I am also very passionate about ancient history. When reading different materials, I found that people everywhere choose to worship the same things, such as the sun, the sky and so on. I believe that this kind of human commonality, such as the reverence for nature and the consistency of other behaviors and actions, is the reason why some common semantics in different languages are often interlinked. In other words, there are few common meanings which we can find in one language but cannot find in other languages. Furthermore, I checked the origin of human language and found that although there are many controversies about it, they are all very interesting. They are inseparable from the discussion of the unity of culture.

In the process of preparing for the linguistics exam, I participated in this linguistics winter camp. Through the introduction and explanation by the coaches, I became more familiar with the subject, and am now greatly interested in it. To enhance my knowledge and practice for the Olympiad, first of all, I organized the courseware of my coaches, maked notes, and searched the Internet for the knowledge points I don’t understand, or asked the professionals around me to help answer questions. Secondly, in my spare time, I also printed out the questions in the past year exams papers for practice, and became familiar with the method of doing the questions. Last but not least, of course, my friends and I often discuss linguistic knowledge and briefly learn linguistic probability on the Internet platform.