Nicla Marabito (I) qualified for the U.S. team for the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), which will be held in Taipei, Taiwan.
The IOL is an annual competition for high school students with puzzles on the grammar and structure of different languages. The competition requires no prior knowledge of linguistics and is based on logical analysis and problem-solving skills. This year, Marabito will go on a fully-funded trip to partake in the 22nd International Linguistics Olympiad from July 21 to July 26.
To qualify for the IOL, Marabito passed two rounds of the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO). The first round, or the Open Round, consists of solving eight problems within three hours. The second round, or the Invitational Round, entailed solving eight harder problems within a four-hour time span.
Out of 200 competitors in the second round, Marabito placed fourth. She also received a gold medal during the Invitational Round for scoring the highest points on one of the problems.
Marabito first became interested in linguistics when she won the Boston Centers for Youth & Families Spelling Bee in sixth grade. After coming to Boston Latin School, she joined the Linguistics Club, a club focused on language and logic puzzles, the first year it was revitalized after the pandemic.
Aside from finding her interests in linguistics, she enjoys participating in this club because of its community: “Although NACLO is an individual competition, I think [collaborating] is the best way to do linguistics.”
Marabito dedicates a large portion of her time to linguistics, having spent over 72 hours preparing for the competition this past year. “Doing hundreds of problems to prepare was hard, but rewarding,” she acknowledges.
As the president of the Linguistics Club, Marabito prepares both herself and her members to partake in the NACLO Open Round. At meetings, she leads the discussion of weekly problems the club does as a group. This exposes her to a variety of questions.
BLS Classics teacher and faculty advisor of the Linguistics Club Ms. Heather Nabbefeld says, “She’s got a mind that sees patterns and is really good at interpreting those patterns.”
In her free time, Marabito studies language and semantics. Through her endeavors, Marabito has learned a total of five languages: Arabic, Greek, Italian, English and Latin.
Marabito believes that linguistics has benefits that supersede language itself. She says, “Linguistics helps connect people through language [and] discussion but also through the shared love of problem-solving. It gets the brain working.”
Throughout her experience with linguistics, she has learned to adapt when faced with challenges and setbacks. She sometimes needs to skip problems to preserve time and is not able to solve full sets within the allotted time period.
Marabito plans to double major in Physics and Linguistics at Harvard University. She is excited to take the linguistics class LING 107 at Harvard.
Marabito’s goal is ultimately to be involved in future efforts to research and preserve language. She asserts, “Language is a beautiful thing; it is universal. No matter how divided the human race becomes, we will still all have one thing in common: our communication with language.”