In the world of linguistics
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Abstract
For someone who has not yet had close contact with linguistics, this discipline may seem very distant from the exact sciences. However, it turns out that even very different languages often exhibit numerous common features—since each language is based on a set of relatively general rules and laws. This fact allows for the creation of self-contained linguistic problems, which are proposed to be solved by all interested school students in competitions known as linguistics Olympiads. The approaches to solving these problems are often similar to those applied in mathematical problems. To perform successfully in a linguistics Olympiad, it is not necessary to know many languages; it is sufficient to have the ability to see and accurately describe the aforementioned general linguistic rules and laws, which are particularly familiar to participants from their native language. The history of Ukrainian linguistics Olympiads already spans 10 years. This article discusses and provides solutions to two problems from the XI Ukrainian Linguistics Olympiad, held in Kyiv on March 9 and 10, 2024.