Regulations of the International Linguistics Olympiad
Whereas the faculty of using language is one of the most prominent defining characteristics of the human species, and curiosity towards language is natural and universal,
and whereas linguistic research is one of the foremost ways of learning about mankind and the language technologies are among the leading industries in a world intent to maintain its diversity in this age of global communication,
and whereas the popularisation of linguistics increases prestige of everyone’s mother tongue and linguistic pluralism in general,
and whereas the sciences of language are but scantily represented in the curricula of secondary schools, yet the genre of the self- sufficient linguistic problem has shown a great capacity to attract the interest of secondary school students and recruit able young minds for careers in theoretical, mathematical and computational linguistics,
and whereas the art of running contests in solving such problems has, after decades of experience, reached a mature stage in several countries, and the potential for international co-operation in this field has been demonstrated by several visits of contestants, organisers and experts from Bulgaria to linguistic olympiads in Russia and vice versa,
and whereas international science olympiads are now organised in many fields and universally recognised as an outstanding method for discovering, encouraging and challenging talented young people, the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) was devised and instituted on the twenty-second day of the month of December in the year two thousand and two.
2009, revised 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
IOL Rules and Guidelines for Contestants
Last Updated 5 Apr 2023.