1. Linguistics for lively minds
Dick Hudson
Dulwich College
November 2016

2. A puzzle: Japanese ‘hiragana’ phonetic script
Q3. One character per …?
How does it work?
Q1. Are meanings relevant?
Q5. Can we solve the puzzle now?
...or work it out!
Check Wikipedia …
Q2. One character per letter/sound?
Q4. Left-right or right-left?

3. More data, and the puzzle deepens
tsu do n
Bad news! The two columns are ordered separately!
If character = syllable, how can character = n? ka
How can we know how they correspond?
How many syllables in harden? What’s the second vowel?
Is n special in other ways?
Compare word-lengths!
Maths or language?
longest
longest

4. How can we know what these characters are?
The challenge
Not in basic data
Not in basic data
Work them out!
How can we know what these characters are?

5. How does the system work?
voiceless
voiced

6. Welcome to linguistics!
Finding out how languages work
Look at the data!
Looking for patterns and systems
Not just random facts
General categories applying to all languages
E.g. voicing (voiced/voiceless)
But every language is organised differently
E.g. Ulwa

7. Ulwa (Nicaragua) From English UK Linguistics Olympiad
Inclusive = including you

8. Zooming in on Ulwa suffix 'infix' Suffix or infix?
Infix after an initial long syllable (CVV or CVC).
Otherwise suffix.
-ni = "our (inc)"
-kana = "their"
-ma = "your (sing)"
-mana = "your (plur)"

9. Languages organise the world
Grammar forces us to make decisions when talking.
Present or past? (forces/forced)
Singular or plural? (decision/decisions)
Human or non-human? (who/what)
But grammar changes
E.g. Modern English doesn’t make a distinction that Old English did make.

10. What have we lost since Old English?
Singular – dual – plural
But we still have duals …

11. Manam Island, Papua New Guinea
auta = North ilau = South
ata = West awa = East
uklo.org
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where?
Tola 1. 4. 2. 3.
Sulung
Sala
DEAD END!
THINK AGAIN! 5.

12. What's up in Manam?

13. Where's North in Manam? Is the sun always in the North?
Until recently, there were
no maps
no compasses
Equator
Where’s North in Dulwich?

14. What are they like in Manam?
They're like us.
They enjoy a day at the seaside.
And they don't know where North is.

15. What's where in Manam Island?
New idea: When relating two places, imagine standing between them facing uphill!
uklo.org
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where?
Success!!
Pita 8. 6.
Butokang
Sulung 4.
Tola 7. 1. 4. 3.
Sulung 2.
Sala
auta = up ilau = down 5.
ata = left awa = right

16. So what? Languages are structured
Not just a random collection of bits.
Linguistics investigates this structure
It’s a science, with methods and theories.
The structure is really interesting because
it varies enormously between languages
it can change
it’s very complex
it affects how we view the world
it’s part of our minds.

17. Thank you. This show is downloadable:
dickhudson.com/talks
For more information about UKLO (the Linguistics Olympiad):