NACLO 2026 - Problem CSheninagans[sic] in Kogi

Open round | 10 points | N/A | Problem statement | Official solution | Tags: Phrase translationSemantics

Based on the illustrations, it looks like the relevant information of the events is: the person doing the event (I vs. you), the action of the event (drop, eat, cry, dance), whether the listener knows about the event (the difference between G and H, example and F, C and C2(10)).

Look at the phrases given. All phrases are of the form: [A] [B][C], where [A] is one of: akhiengua, ga, kwisaté, mowi; [B] is one of: na-/ni-; and [C] is one of: -gukú/-magu. Naturally, [A] should correspond to the action while [B] and [C] correspond to the person and whether the listener knows, in some order. Including the example, we have 5 ni- and 4 na-, 6 -gukú and 3 -magu. So [B] corresponds in count to the listener's knowledge (know = 5, doesn't know = 4), while [C] corresponds in count to the person (I = 6, you = 3). So we can determine that:

• nigukú = I (listener knows)
• nagukú = I (listener doesn't know)
• nimagu = you (listener knows)
• namagu = you (listener doesn't know)

So:

• "ga" co-occurs with "nigukú" and "nimagu", so it must be "eat".
• "kwisaté" co-occurs with "nagukú" and "nigukú", so it must be "dance".
• "mowi" co-occurs with "nimagu" and "nagukú", so it must be "cry".

The remaining translation work is trivial. In C2:

• I eat (listener doesn't know) = ga nagukú
• You drop (listener knows) = akhiengua nimagu
• You dance (listener knows) = kwisaté nimagu