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Singapore
Linguistics
League

Held OnlineTeams of 3-5Open to Sec school, Poly, JC, and other pre-tertiary students

An online competition where teams work together to crack languages and solve linguistics puzzles. No prior linguistics knowledge is required! Just use your logical thinking and pattern recognition skills, and be open to learning some new concepts here and there. Most importantly, have fun!

Try sample problems

The
Rules

  1. You may use any online materials and/or tools.
  1. No cross-communicating, only discuss with your own team! Sharing of answers or discussion between teams is strictly forbidden during the event, and may get your team disqualified.
  1. You earn Wugcoins by solving problems. Answer as many and as accurately as possible. Teams with the most Wugcoins will earn a higher placing on the leaderboard!

Scoring and Format

Scoring

Each correct answer earns your team Wugcoins. Bonus Wugcoins are awarded if you take fewer incorrect attempts to solve. Teams are ranked on a leaderboard based on the number of Wugcoins they have.

Format

The competition is held online. Teams of 3-5 members work together on linguistics puzzles within a timed window.

Try Our Sample Problems

Try some problems for yourself — do you think you can spot the patterns and crack the language?

Loading sample problems...

Syllabus

Our problems draw from six core areas of linguistics, layered like an onion from the smallest units of sound to language in its full social context. Select a layer to learn more.

Download Guidebook

Linguistics

The Science of Language

Linguistics is the study of how languages work: their sounds, structure, and meaning. It covers a wide range of concepts related to language and communication. There are six core areas, from individual speech sounds (Phonetics) all the way to how context changes what words mean (Pragmatics). Beyond that, topics like Sociolinguistics and Historical Linguistics combine with other fields to put Language into perspective.

Silbo Gomero, a whistled form of Spanish used on the island of La Gomera, can carry conversations over distances of up to 5 kilometres across valleys.

— Neural processing of a whistled language, Carreiras et al.

FAQs

Answers to common questions about the Singapore Linguistics League.

Alex

Alex

Problem Setter

Hi! Alex here. I'm from Hong Kong and haven't been to Singapore for 10+ years now. When I'm not cramming for my exams, you'll (hopefully not) catch me slacking off by working on linguistics and/or Cantonese projects! Also an IOL alumnus.

Ariel

Ariel

Admin | Pubs

Hellos! I'm a NUSHie who loves seeing what I'm learning appear in the world. When I'm not busy crafting notes, you can catch me exploring, cycling, and bigbacking across Singapore.

Dylan

Dylan

Admin | Problem Setter | Pubs

Hi! I'm Dylan, a recently graduated JC student and IOL medallist with a passion for all things involving linguistics and/or linguine. Other things I love include bossa nova, cork grease and raw onions.

Jaeden

Jaeden

Admin | Problem Setter

Ex NUSHie who kept doing linguistics olympiad 2 years after aging out of the system. Likes writing systems, hates chaos and order problems (doesn't mean he'll never set one tho ;))

Jun Heng

Jun Heng

Admin | Dev

I love grease and raw onions

Rui Ming

Rui Ming

Admin | Problem Setter

Hi! I'm Rui Ming, a NUSHie and enthusiast of geography, linguistics and rice. I like wandering aimlessly around wikipedia, maps and corners of the country.

Seng Yan

Seng Yan

Problem Setter

I love grease and raw onions

Wayne

Wayne

Pubs | Problem Setter

spent too much time on ling wikipedia as a kid and now i'm here 有時坎戇、有時假慶、逐日恰善 💔

Wee Zen

Wee Zen

Dev

hi! i'm wee zen and i graduated from nush in 2025. i've done only a bit of linguistics olympiad before, so i mainly work on the dev side of things for sll. in my free time i run and drink coffee!

Yaw Tia

Yaw Tia

Admin | Dev

Hi! I'm an ex-NUSHie who's been loving linguistics, learning languages, and creating conlangs for some time. kin la mi sona e toki pona. jan ale o kama sona e toki pona.

About Us

The Singapore Linguistics League (SLL) is run by students who love linguistics and want to share the joy with others. Inspired by Linguistics Olympiads such as SLO, APLO and IOL, as well as other science leagues hosted by students, we decided to create SLL.

We write all our problems from scratch, based on real languages. You don't necessarily need to know any linguistics beforehand, but some knowledge would help. If you can spot patterns and think logically, you'll do great regardless.

Contact Us

Have questions about the Singapore Linguistics League? Whether it is about registration, competition format, or anything else, we are happy to help.