What is NACLO?
NACLO is a contest in which high-school students solve linguistic problems. In solving these problems, students learn about the diversity and consistency of language, while exercising logic skills. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is necessary. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies use dozens of languages to create engaging problems that represent cutting edge issues in their fields. The competition has attracted top students to study and work in those same fields. It is truly an opportunity for young people to experience a taste of natural-language processing in the 21st century. You can find out more about the competition here.
When and where?
Registration deadline: January 21, 2025. Please fill out the form here and select University of South Carolina for the site.
Open round: January 23, 2025 10am-1pm EST. Please arrive 15 minutes early at the location. The open round will be in room 615 in J. Welsh Humanities Office Building (see building 54 in the attached map or look up J. Welsh Humanities Office building under the Academic Buildings category in the interactive map here. Please note that our building is in a pedestrian area of the campus and parking is a bit of a hassle. There are paid parking spots on Greene, Pendelton and Senate streets, as well as metered parking spots in the lower two levels of the Pendenlton St garage (located on Pendeleton between Bull St and Pickens St).
Who is it for?
High-school students with an interest in learning foreign languages, solving puzzles, breaking codes, natural language processing and language technologies.
How is the contest organized?
There are two rounds of the contest. The first (Open) round of the contest will take place on Thursday, January 23, 2025, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Students who perform well in the Open round will be invited to take part in the second (Invitational) round to be held on March 13th, 2025. The top students in the invitational round from across North America will have a chance to participate in the International Linguistics Open competition in the summer.
How to register and what does it cost?
Participation in NACLO is free. Students who are interested in taking part will however need to register to participate in the competition at the NACLO registration site.
How to prepare?
The NACLO website has a trove of materials that include the full problem sets (with solutions) from past competitions.
For more information
For more information, please consult the student handbook here.