NACLO
What does NACLO stand for?
North American Computational Linguistics Open
What does phonetics study?
physical properties, production, and perception of speech sounds
The term "sus" is an example of this linguistic phenomenon.
clipping
What is the IPA for "cat"?
kæt
What is the oldest script in human history?
Sumerian
What are the two rounds of the NACLO?
Open Round (open to everyone) and Invitational Round (top 10%)
What is the name of the branch of linguistics that studies old languages and languages' use in antiquity?
historical linguistics
Give an example of an euphemism and dysphemism
euphemism: passed away (died), powder room (restroom), vertically challenged (short) [sorry short people]
dysphemism: quack (doctor), snail mail (physical mail), beak (nose)
IPA for "phone"
/foʊn/
What language family includes Hebrew, Arabic, and and old language Akkadian?
Semitic language family
What does NACLO qualify winners for?
International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL)
What is semantics?
The study of word meaning.
Oxford's Word of the Year for 2024, describing the mental deterioration caused by too much digital content
brainrot
Contest in IPA
ˈkɑntɛst
What language, which has a modern variant, often originates characters in math, physics, and the names of college fraternities/sororities?
Ancient Greek
What is the cost of participating in NACLO?
none/free/zero
Define syntax.
the branch of linguistics that studies the strict rules and mathematical algorithms used to arrange words into sentences.
What is "Valleyspeak" or "Valley Girl Speech"?
Born in the 1980s in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, this highly parodied social dialect popularized massive slang words like "Totally," "Gag me with a spoon," and using the word "Like" every three words.
in IPA, ˈhæpi
happy
What is a proto-language? Give an example if you can.
the common ancestor language—usually reconstructed by linguists—from which a family of related languages descends
Examples: Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Germanic, Latin, Proto-Sino-Tibetan, Proto-Dravidian
Universities, high schools
The study of accents falls under the category of which branch of linguistics?
sociolinguistics
What is the language used in Lord of the Rings and invented by JRR Tolkien (who was actually a philologist, or historical linguist)?
Elvish
In IPA, /ˈbraɪt aɪˈdiə/.
bright idea
Which massive language family includes English, Spanish, Hindi, and Russian, tracing back to a single prehistoric tongue?
Indo-European