2026 · open round · D · 10 points

Witsuwit'en Word Salad

Arul Kolla · morphology · semantics · rule discovery

Witsuwit'en is a language spoken by around 3,500 people in British Columbia, Canada. Below are some sentences in Witsuwit'en and their English translations. It may be helpful to know that c', dz, gh, kw, k', lh, ts, t', y, and ' are consonants, while ë and ï are vowels.

lemidec yini'alh: He's eating a potato.
c'ighïz nildïlh: He's eating (e.g. hard-boiled) eggs.
lisuc hildïlh: He's eating sugar.
lesucam yini'alh: He's eating a turnip.
be' yi'alh: He's eating dried fish.
dïndze yini'alh: He's eating a blueberry.
tazil yi'alh: He's eating (thick) soup.
c'it'an hildïlh: He's eating leaves (e.g. kale).
c'it'an tsïlhghis yini'alh: He's eating a head of lettuce.
hida tsiy yi'alh: He's eating moose meat.
silhts'ec hildïlh: He's eating (ground) pepper.
k'inïh sigï hildïlh: He's eating cornflakes.
lhës yi'alh: He's eating a slice of bread.
cit'an hilhtsin nildïlh: He's eating onions.
ligalat yi'alh: He's eating a carrot.
c'ik'agh hildïlh: He's eating strips of bacon.

Reference illustrations of five foods: a turnip, a head of lettuce, cornflakes, rhubarb, and hazelnuts. — Reference images for some of the foods named in this problem.

TimerminutesOptional. Set whatever limit suits you.

Questions

0 of 10 correct

For each Witsuwit'en sentence, choose the word that completes it.

lemidec nïlhtiz ___ — He's eating mashed potatoes.

lemidec st'ë ___ — He's eating french fries.

lemidec sigï ___ — He's eating a potato chip.

gus ___ — He's eating stalks of rhubarb.

c'itsiy dïnïltiz ___ — He's eating sausages.

lhës sigï ___ — He's eating a cracker.

sniw ___ — He's eating cherries.

tsalic këkwin' ___ — He's eating a hazelnut.

mï'o ___ — He's eating cranberries.

tselh ghïl ___ — He's eating a tomato.

Explanation

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Reading the explanation costs no XP. Worth 10 points in the real exam.