Appendix: Linguistic puzzles

This page contains three linguistic puzzles grouped by topic: phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax. I am not the author of these puzzles! I use them in my course as a tool for practicing linguistic analysis: inferring underlying rules and structures from linguistic data. These puzzles are one of several activities offered during seminars / practical sessions. The puzzles appeared online in collections of linguistic puzzles (in Russian) and I translated them into English and leave them here as examples of student activity for different topics. If you are a teacher reading this and want to use these puzzles, make sure to attribute them correctly (not to me!); and if you think I should take them down, let me know and I will!

Puzzle 1: Stress in Muscogee

Puzzle by Aleksey Pegushev (source)

This puzzle is linked to the topic of weeks 2 and 3 ‘Transmitting and capturing language’. Here, you will be given (limited) linguistic data, and your task is to uncover a rule that explains these data. Moreover, the data is unlocked in three portions, each new portion of data challenging your previous generalization. The language this puzzle focusses on is the Muscogee language, a language that has roughly 5000 speakers and belongs to the Muskogean language family in North America. Presumably, this is a language you don’t know much or anything about. That’s the whole point! Existing Large Language Models also don’t have any knowledge about Muscogee and actually weren’t able to solve this puzzle last time I checked. Enjoy!

Problem 1

Look at the following several words in the Muscogee language with stress marked:

cokó ‘house’
yanása ‘bison’
iyanawá ‘his/her cheek’
imahicíta ‘to look out for’
lafotaháya ‘melon’
itiwanayipíta ‘to tie each other down’

Mark stress on the following words:

ifa ‘dog’
ifoci ‘puppy’
wanayita ‘to knit’
awanayita ‘to tie’

Problem 2

Here are more Muscogee words with stress marked:

sókca ‘bag’
pocóswa ‘axe’
aktopá ‘bridge’
akkopánka ‘game’
inkosapitá ‘to beg’
acahankatíta ‘to consider me’
pokkałakkoaopankacóko ‘basketball gym’

Mark stress on the following words:

hoktaki ‘women’
isiskitoci ‘small glass’
ilitohtałita ‘to cross legs’

Did you have to revise the stress rules you found in Problem 1 in order to finish the task?

Problem 3

Here are even more Muscogee words with stress marked:

cá:lo ‘trout’
wa:kocí ‘calf’
famí:ca ‘pumpkin’
hî:spákwa ‘American robin’
aklowahí ‘mud’
tapassó:la ‘cellar spider’
tokna:photí ‘wallet’
co:kakiłłitá ‘study’
cokpilâ:pilá ‘nightjar’

Mark stress on the following words:

nâ:naki ‘things’
sâ:sakwa ‘goose’
a:tamihoma ‘hood’
homanta:ki ‘men’

Did you have to revise the stress rules you found in Problem 2 in order to finish the task?

Note: ł is a consonant; the hat over a vowel (e.g. â) marks falling tone; vowel length is marked with a colon (e.g. a:).

Hint 1

Count the number of syllables in the first group of words.

Hint 2

The basic rule remains the same, but the second and the third group of words provide data to make it more precise.

Hint 3

In order to formulate this more precise rule, try to figure out what makes word structure in each of the groups unique.

Solution

I hid the solutions for now. Contact me if you want to get them.

Puzzle 2: Imperatives in Arabic

This puzzle is related to the topic of Week 4: Morphology. It allows you to dive deeper into morphological analysis of a set of forms that combine a verbal stem and different verbal affixes – and as a result, given the data, you come up with a rule behind these combinations. This is a direct extension of what we talked about in class.

Puzzle by Anton Somin (source)

The table below contains verbs in Arabic in different forms, all of them 2nd person singular:

• indicative present tense singular masculine (as in ‘you [masc.] are spinning’), glossed IND.PRS.2.SG.M;

• imperative singular masulune (as in ‘spin! [masc.]’), glossed IMP.2.SG.M;

• imperative singular feminine (as in ‘spin! [fem.]’), glossed IMP.2.SG.F.

The forms are given in simplified transcription. Some forms are missing, with corresponding cells containing question marks.

IND.PRS.2.SG.M	IMP.2.SG.M	IMP.2.SG.F	translation
tadūru	dur!	dūrī!	spin
taktubu	‘uktub!	‘uktubi!	write
tamšī	‘imši!	‘imšī!	go
taqsimu	‘iqsim!	‘iqsimī!	split
tarğū	‘urğu!	‘urğī!	hope
tasmaʕu	‘ismaʕ!	‘ismaʕī!	listen
tastabriku	‘istabrik!	‘istabrikī!	make camel kneel
tarīmu	rim!	?	leave
tarmī	‘irmi!	?	throw
tanāmu	?	nāmī!	sleep
?	fi!	?	carry out
tadʕū	?	?	call

Note: line over the vowel marks long vowels; ğ, ḫ, q, š, ṯ, ‘, ʕ are consonants.

Problem 1

Fill in the missing forms. Explain your solution.

Problem 2

Do the same for the following verbs:

IND.PRS.2.SG.M	IMP.2.SG.M	translation
tafqišu	?	break
taktariṯu	?	take care
taḫruğu	?	go out

Hint

In order to solve this puzzle, you need to answer three main questions:

1. In what case does the imperative verb get a prefix?

2. In what case this prefix will be ‘i- and when is it ‘u-?

3. When do long vowels become short vowels?

Solution

I hid the solutions for now. Contact me if you want to get them.

Puzzle 3: Simple sentences in Straits Salish

This puzzle is meant to give hands-on experience in analyzing the structure of simple sentences, and in this it connects mostly to the topic of Week 6: Syntax. The puzzle is based on data from Straits Salish – a language with a very different syntax from the familiar languages of the European standard.

Puzzle by Peter Arkadiev (source)

The table below contains sentences in Straits Salish and their English translations.

1.	t’iləm-sxw	You sing.
2.	čey cə swiʔqoʔəɫ	The lad works.
3.	leŋt-sxw cə qen’qən’	You see the thief.
4.	leŋtŋ-sən ʔə cə qen’qən’	The thief sees me.
5.	ʔətat-sən	I sleep.
6.	qen’qən’ cə ʔətat	The one who sleeps is a thief.
7.	t’iləm cə swəy’qəʔ	The man sings.
8.	χčətŋ-sxw ʔə cə čey	The one who works recognizes you.
9.	t’əm’t-sən cə ʔətat	I hit the one who sleeps.
10.	ɫəɫikw cə sɫeniy’	The woman hurries.

Problem 1

Translate into English:

11. qen’qən’-sx^w

12. t’əm’tŋ-sən ʔə cə sɫeniy’

13. χčət-sx^w cə t’iləm

Problem 2

Translate into Straits Salish:

14. I am a man.

15. The one who hurries sleeps.

16. The lad sees you.

Hint 1

Pay attention to word order in Straits Salish.

Hint 2

What do counterparts of I, me, you look like in Straits Salish look like?

Solution

I hid the solutions for now. Contact me if you want to get them.