1 Problems

Problem # 1 (Author: Pyotr Arkadyev)

A number of Lithuanian 1 nouns are presented in (1) the diminutives derived from them
in (2) and their English translations in (3). Some of the diminutives are missing.

1 2 3
arklys arklelis horse
asara asar
el
e tear
degtukas degtuk
elis match
lap
e lapel
e fox
gyvat
e gyvat
el
e snake
juosta ? ribbon
lopinys ? patch
merga ? girl
obuolys obuol
elis apple
pirstas ? finger
pirstin
e ? glove
ranka rankel
e hand
t
evas t
evelis father
uodega ? tail
uoga uogel
e berry
zirgas zirgelis steed

Task 1. Fill the gaps.

Task 2. What can you say about the pronunciation of uo in Lithuanian? Explain.
Note. s is pronounced as English sh, z as s in the word usual ; e, e
and y are similar to
the vowels in can, cane and keen , respectively.

1 Lithuanian language belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family. It is the official language
of the Republic of Lithuania, where it is spoken by about 3 million people. About 1 million Lithuanian

speakers live in Russia, Poland, the United States, Canada and some other countries.

1
 Problem # 2 (Author: Anna Pazelskaya)
Several multiplications have been written out in Basque 1 . There are gaps in the last
two lines.
bi × bi = lau
bi × bost = hamar
bi × hamar = hogei
hiru × bost = hamabost
hiru × hamar = hogeita hamar
bost × bost = hogeita bost
bost × zazpi = hogeita hamabost
zazpi × bederatzi = hirurogeita hiru
zazpi × hamar = hirurogeita hamar
lau × bost = ?
? × hamar = laurogeita hamar
Task 1. Fill the gaps.
Task 2. Write in figures: laurogeita hamahiru; hirurogei .
Task 3. Write out in Basque: 39; 77; 80.
Note. The letter s has the sound of English sh, z of s, tz of ts in cats. The letter h is
mute.

Problem # 3 (Author: Pyotr Zubkov)

Several sentences in English are given together with their translations into the Kati
language 2 in random order:

The wolf killed the master moc pûvezo ûrenû

The wolves kill the man moco mror ûyo
The men kill the master mroro pûvez ûya
The youth kills the wolf pûvez s.'ole ûrenû
The masters killed the youths s.'ol moce ûrenût
The man kills the youths s.'ole mror ûyo

Task 1. Pair up the translations.

Task 2. Translate into Kati:
The wolves killed the men
The youths kill the masters
The man killed the wolves
Task 3. Translate into English:
moc mrore ûrenût
pûveze moc ûya
Note. c, , s.', û represent specific Kati sounds.

1 Basque is spoken by 500,000 to 600,000 people in France and Spain and by about 170,000 people in

South America. It has not been proven to be related to any other language.
2 Kati is a member of the Indo-Iranian family. It is spoken by several tens of thousands in Afghanistan

and Pakistan.

2
 Problem # 4 (Author: Yulia Mazurova)
Several Persian phrases are presented together with their translations:
gorbe zir-e raxtex ab the cat under the bed
xane p ain-e kuh the house under the mountain
cah arp aye zir-e miz the stool under the table
ga ye
g zir-e pol the boat under the bridge
am anat p ain-e dar the package under the door
sahr zir-e a ft ab the city under the sun
n ame zir-e ket ab the letter under the book
ket ab p ain-e komod the book on the lowest shelf in the bookcase
Task 1. Translate into English:
cah arp aye p ain-e miz
ket ab zir-e komod
Task 2. Here are two English phrases and their Persian translations (with gaps):
1. the stone under the water sang . . . a b
2. the box under the tree ja'abe . . . deraxt
Fill the gaps. If you think that some of them can be filled in more than one way, give
all possible answers. Explain your solution.
Note. a , c, s, ' represent specific Persian sounds.

Problem # 5 (Author: Pyotr Zubkov)

Several phrases have been translated into Kazakh 1 (written in Roman script here), but
the translations are given in random order. Some of the words are missing.

one and five . . . ben el uw

one and eight bir men bes
three and two bir . . . segiz
four and seven eluw eki men on
seven and fifty . . . men el uw
eight and fifty otz ben . . .
thirteen and thirty tort pen zeti
thirty and two u
s . . . eki
fifty-two and ten ... u s pen otz

Task 1. Find the correct translations and supply the missing words.
Task 2. Translate into Kazakh:
five and thirty-eight ten and four
seven and fifty-three thirty-eight and five
Note. i, o
, u
,  are specific Kazakh vowels. The letter z has the sound of s in the word
usual .

1 Kazakh language belongs to the Central Turkic groups of languages. It is the official language and

principle native language of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is spoken by about 6,5 million people in

Kazakhstan and about 1,5 million people southern Siberia, northwestern China and northwestern Mongolia.

3
 Problem # 6 (Author: Anna Pazelskaya)
This is the genealogical tree of a Basque family:

Iker = Josepa Emilio = Miren

/ \ / \
/ \ / \
? = Mikel ? = Ibone ?
/ \ / \
/ \ / \
? Monika Manu Inma
The question marks in the diagram stand for the names Ines, Kontxi, Felix and Andres
(listed here in no particular order). Some of the relationships between the members of this
family are described below in Basque:
Ines Mikelen emaztea da.
Monika Kontxiren ahizpa da.
Inma Manuren arreba da.
Iker Joseparen senarra da.
Mikel Felixen anaia da.
Andres Iboneren neba da.
Ibone eta Felix senar-emazteak dira.
Andres eta Ibone Emilioren seme-alabak dira.
Manu Iboneren semea da.
Task 1. Identify the names behind the question marks in the diagram.
Task 2. Is Kontxi male or female? Explain, using the data from the problem.
Task 3. Fill the gaps in the following Basque sentences (referring to the same family):
a) Kontxi . . . ahizpa da. b) Inma eta Manu Iboneren . . . . . . .
c) Ibone Andresen . . . . . . . d) Manu Inmaren . . . . . . .
e) Kontxi Mikelen . . . . . . . f) Emilio . . . senarra da.
Note. Ibone, Ines, Inma, Josepa, Miren, Monika are women's names; Andres, Emilio,
Felix, Iker, Manu, Mikel are men's names. The letters s and x stand for sounds similar
to English sh ; z has the sound of English s, tx of English ch, j is a sound intermediate
between g and y ; h is mute.

4
 Problem # 7 (Author: Ivan Derzhanski)
Japanese Chess ( Sh ogi ), played on a board of size 9 by 9 and with a total of 40 men,
is the most popular intellectual game in contemporary Japan, where it entertains between
10 and 20 million people. But between the 8th and the 18th century many other variants
of the game were invented in that country, some on smaller and some on larger boards.
The largest of all Japanese chess games (and generally the largest chess game in history)
is Taikyoku Sh ogi (more or less `Ultimate Chess'), in which the board is of size 36 by 36
(or 1296 squares in all) and every player has in the beginning an army of 402 men of 208
different types.
This is a table which contains the names of some of the men in Taikyoku Sh ogi (in
Japanese and in English translation), as well as the name of the man to which each of
them promotes upon reaching one of the farthest 11 ranks of the board.
initial value promoted value
1. `Running Stag' −→ honroku
2. −→ t
osh
o `Sword General'
3. gy
uhei `Ox Soldier' −→
4. `Right General' −→ ugun
5. `Ox General' −→ hongy u
6. ky
uhei `Bow Soldier' −→ `Bow General'
7. kish
o `Wood General' −→
8. dohei `Crossbow Soldier' −→
9. −→ `Dashing Horse'
10. `Left Chariot' −→
11. `Horse Soldier' −→ s
oba
12. s
oy
u `Running Bear' −→ `Dashing Bear'
13. tonsh
o `Pig General' −→ honton
14. tessh
o −→ hakuz o `White Elephant'
15. −→ sagun `Left Army'
16. usha −→ utessha `Right Iron Chariot'
17. −→ honr o `Dashing Wolf'
18. sekish
o `Stone General' −→ `White Elephant'
Task. Fill the gaps.
Note. A bar above a vowel letter indicates length.

5
2 Solutions
1. There are two endings for the diminutives. This is how they are distributed:
Original (ending) -as -ys -a -
e
Diminutive (ending) -is -is -
e -
e
(In fact the difference is one of gender: the words that end in -as and -ys are mascu-
line, while those that end in -a and -
e are feminine. You don't have to know this, of
course.)
If a word has more that two syllables, then the diminutive derived from it ends in
-
el(is/
e) ; if a word has two syllables, then its diminutive ends in -el(is/
e) (note that
the first e is undotted!)
Task 1. Diminutives: juostel
e, lopin
elis, mergel
e, pristelis, pristin
el
e, uodeg
el
e .
Task 2. Since uoga behaves as a word with two syllables, we can say that uo forms
one syllable (i. e., it is a diphthong).

2. The following Basque numbers are identified straightforwardly: bi 2, hiru 3, lau 4,
bost 5, zazpi 7, bederatzi 9; hamar 10, hogei 20.
Numbers from 11 to 19: hama-X , 10+X, where X is less than 10. Numbers over 20:
X-r-ogeita Y , X×20+Y, where Y is not greater than 20. In compounds 10 is hama
(not hamar ), 20 is hogeita (not hogei ). The letter h in the beginning of the second
word in a compound falls out (e. g., lau-r-hogeita > laurogeita ).
bi × bi = lau 2 × 2=4
bi × bost = hamar 2 × 5 = 10
bi × hamar = hogei 2 × 10 = 20
hiru × bost = hamabost 3 × 5 = 15
hiru × hamar = hogeita hamar 3 × 10 = 30
bost × bost = hogeita bost 5 × 5 = 25
bost × zazpi = hogeita hamabost 5 × 7 = 35
zazpi × bederatzi = hirurogeita hiru 7 × 9 = 63
zazpi × hamar = hirurogeita hamar 7 × 10 = 70
Task 1.
lau × bost = hogei ( 4 × 5 = 20 )
bederatzi × hamar = laurogeita hamar ( 9 × 10 = 90 )
Task 2. 93; 60.
Task 3. 39 is 20+19: hogeita hamabederatzi . 77 is 3×20+17: hirurogeita hamazazpi .
80 is 4×20: laurogei .

3. Word order: SubjectObjectVerb. Present tense: the Verb is marked by -renû (if
the Subject is singular) or -renût (if the Subject is plural); the Subject has no ending;
the Object is marked by -e (Singular) or -o (Plural). Past tense: the Verb is marked
by -renû (if the Object is singular) or -renût (if the Object is plural); the Subject is
marked by -e (Singular) or -o (Plural); the Object has no ending.

6
 Task 1.
The wolf killed the master s. 'ole mror ûyo
The man kills the youths moc pûvezo ûrenû
The men kill the master moco mror ûyo
The masters killed the youths mroro pûvez ûya
The youth kills the wolf pûvez s. 'ole ûrenû
The wolves kill the man s.'ol moce ûrenût
Task 2. The men kill the master; The youth killed the men.
Task 3.
s.'olo moc ûya
moce s.'ol ûya
pûvez mroro ûrenût

4. The word order is the same as in English. There are two words for `under' in Persian:
zir-e is used when the upper item completely covers the lower one; p ain-e is used
when the upper item doesn't cover the lower one completely, more or less as `below'
in English.
Task 1. The stool at the table; the book under the bookcase.
Task 2. (1) The stone under the water sang zir-e a b , if the stone is, say, in a river
that is, completely covered by water; sang p ain-e a b , if it's, say, at a waterfall. (2)
The box under the tree ja'abe p ain-e deraxt , if the box, say, lies on the ground;
ja'abe zir-e deraxt , if the box is buried, say, under the roots of the tree.

5. The Kazakh numerals are: 1 bir ; 2eki ; 3u s ; 4t

ort ; 5bes ; 7zeti ; 8segiz ;
10on ; 30otz ; 50el
uw . In numbers greater than 10 the tens precede the units.
The word `and' is pen after voiceless consonants, men after vowels and sonorant
consonants, ben after other voiced consonants.
Task 1. The restored words are in italics:
one and five bir men bes
one and eight bir men segiz
three and two s pen eki
u
four and seven tort pen zeti
seven and fifty zeti men eluw
eight and fifty segiz ben eluw
thirteen and thirty on us pen otz
thirty and two otz ben eki
fifty-two and ten eluw eki men on
Task 2.
5 and 38  bes pen otz segiz 10 and 4  on men t ort
7 and 53  zeti men el
uw u
s 38 and 5  otz segiz ben bes

6. The Basque sentences are formed in the following way: Name1Name2 (genitive
form)relationshipcopular verb. The copula is da for singular subjects and dira for

7
 plural subjects. The genitive form (Mikel's, Kontxi's, ...) has the ending -en (after
consonants), -ren (after vowels). A woman's `sister' is ahizpa , a man's `sister' is
`arreba'. Similarly, a man's `brother' is anaia , a woman's `brother' is `neba'. `Wife'
is emaztea , `husband' is senarra . `Spouses' (or `married couple') is senar-emazteak ,
literally `husband-wife-s'. Seme-alabak means `children' (of different sexes, literally
`son-daughter-s'); seme is `son'; therefore, alaba means `daughter'. Eta means `and'.
Task 1. Ines is Mikel's wife. Kontxi is Monika's sister. Felix is Mikel's brother.
Andres is Emilio and Miren's son.
Task 2. We know that Monika is ahizpa to Kontxi; therefore, Kontxi is female.
Task 3.
a) Monikaren c) arreba da e) alaba da
b) seme-alabak dira d) neba da f) Mirenen

7. We note the repeated elements hei `soldier' (3, 6, 8) and sh o `general' (2, 7, 13, 18);
do `crossbow' (8), gy u `ox' (3), ki `wood' (7), ky u `bow' (6), seki `stone' (18), t o
`sword' (2), ton `pig' (13). The element hon is repeated several times in the animal
rows. We can assume that it means `dashing', a meaning repeatedly seen in the
glosses. Then r o is `wolf' (17) and roku is `stag' (1). The modifier precedes the head
throughout; consequently s o is `running' and y
u is `bear' (12). We can also derive tes
`iron', u `right' and sha `chariot'. Then gun is `army' (4) and sa is `left' (15). The
only other thing left is ba, which has to mean `horse' (11).
Relying on the similarities in the meaning, we can distinguish several patterns of
promotion. Each pattern groups together men whose unpromoted ranks have names
in which one part is shared while the other (call it ξ ) varies, albeit in a limited way.
1., 12. s
o- ξ −→ hon- ξ ξ : animal
`Running ξ ' −→ `Dashing ξ ' (`stag', `bear')
5., 13. ξ -sh o −→ hon- ξ ξ : animal
`ξ General' −→ `Dashing ξ ' (`ox', `pig')
7., 14., 18. ξ -sh o −→ hakuz o ξ : material
`ξ General' −→ `White Elephant' (`wood', `iron', `stone')
4., 15. ξ -sh o −→ ξ -gun ξ : side
`ξ General' −→ `ξ Army' (`left', `right')
10., 16. ξ -sha −→ ξ -tessha ξ : side
`ξ Chariot' −→ `ξ Iron Chariot' (`left', `right')
2., 6., 8. ξ -hei −→ ξ -sh o ξ : weapon (`sword',
`ξ Soldier' −→ `ξ General' `bow', `crossbow')
3., 11. ξ -hei −→ s
o- ξ ξ : animal
`ξ Soldier' −→ `Running ξ ' (`ox', `horse')
The shared part is affected by the promotion (usually in a way that makes some
intuitive sense). The other part is not, except in the case of the three material
Generals, all of which promote in the same way. There is no ordering between the
various values of ξ in each pattern.

8
We can use this table to determine what promotes to what, or from what. Only rows
(9) and (17) can cause hesitation. We may assume that the Dashing Horse starts off
as a General (as do the Ox and the Pig) and the Dashing Wolf as a Running one (as
do the Bear and the Stag), because the first animals are tame and the second ones
are wild. We are now able to complete the assignment:

1. s
oroku `Running Stag' −→ honroku `Dashing Stag'
2. t
ohei `Sword Soldier' −→ t
osh o `Sword General'
3. gy uhei `Ox Soldier' −→ s
ogy u `Running Ox'
4. ush o `Right General' −→ ugun `Right Army'
5. gy ush o `Ox General' −→ hongy u `Dashing Ox'
6. ky uhei `Bow Soldier' −→ ky ush o `Bow General'
7. kish o `Wood General' −→ hakuz o `White Elephant'
8. dohei `Crossbow Soldier' −→ dosh o `Crossbow General'
9. bash o `Horse General' −→ honba `Dashing Horse'
10. sasha `Left Chariot' −→ satessha `Left Iron Chariot'
11. bahei `Horse Soldier' −→ s
oba `Running Horse'
12. s
oy u `Running Bear' −→ hon'y u `Dashing Bear'
13. tonsh o `Pig General' −→ honton `Dashing Pig'
14. tessh o `Iron General' −→ hakuz o `White Elephant'
15. sash o `Left General' −→ sagun `Left Army'
16. usha `Right Chariot' −→ utessha `Right Iron Chariot'
17. s
or o `Running Wolf' −→ honr o `Dashing Wolf'
18. sekish o `Stone General' −→ hakuz o `White Elephant'