The Linguistics Olympiads: Academic Competitions in Linguistics for Secondary School Students
(2007)Abstract
Since the mid-1960s, problem-solving competitions in linguistics for secondary school students have been taking place at various locations around the world. In Russia, the Moscow and St Petersburg Linguistic Olympiads are credited with inspiring hundreds of young talented scholars to choose linguistics as an academic major and profession. Presently (2007) there are national contests in Bulgaria, the Netherlands and several other European countries, and the USA. There is also an International Linguistic Olympiad in which students from many countries competa, as well as dozens of local competitions held in individual towns and schools across Europe and the USA. In this chapter we will describe the basic Linguistic Olympiad (LO) concept, and will argue for its significance for linguistics and related fields on a number of levels. Following this we will provide specific descriptions of how the LO concept has been implemented in Russia, Bulgaria, the USA and internationally.