Third International Olympiad in Theoretical,
Mathematical and Applied Linguistics
The Netherlands, Leiden, 8–12 August 2005
Team Contest
Listen to 22 sentences spoken in Figuig1. Every sentence is recorded twice.
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Here are the English translations for the first 20 sentences:
1. My friend prepared the couscous.
2. I prepared the couscous.
3. He will prepare the couscous.
4. Where did my friend prepare the couscous?
5. Where will he prepare the couscous?
6. Where shall I hide the dish?
7. I will prepare him/it.
8. He will hide you (fem.).
9. Where did he hide you (fem.)?
10. Where will he let you (fem.) in?
11. He let him in.
12. He prepared him/it.
13. He will let him out.
14. Where did he let him in?
15. Where will he hide him?
16. He let his friend in.
17. He broke him/it.
18. I hid you (fem.).
19. I broke him/it.
20. I let (past) him out.
Assignment 1. Develop an orthography for the Figuig language.
Assignment 2. Write down sentences 1 to 22 in your orthography.
Assignment 3. Translate sentences 21 and 22 into English.
Assignment 4. Translate into Figuig and write down in your orthography:
23. Where shall I let his friend in?
24. Where shall I let you (fem.) out?
25. My friend broke the dish.
26. He hid him/it.
27. I prepared him/it.
28. His friend will hide the couscous.
Explain your solution.
Note. Couscous is the national Moroccan dish made of semolina.
Good luck!
Project authors: Maarten Kossmann, Alexander !. Lubotsky.

1 Figuig is one of the Northern Berber languages. It is spoken by about 15 000 people in the Figuig oasis in Eastern
Morocco.