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Panini Linguistics Olympiad
HBCSE Stage-1 linguistics olympiad. Self-contained linguistic puzzles in unfamiliar languages — no prior linguistic knowledge needed. Solved by pattern recognition.
Updated 17 Aug 2026 ·Vacancy counts change every cycle — always confirm the exact number in the latest official notification before applying.
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Source: official exam authority notification · refreshed weekly. How this works →
Free PRIL preparation on Shishya
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Agglutinative MorphologyTurkish 'ev-ler-im-de' means 'in my houses'. What is the correct morpheme breakdown?
Tap an option to check your answer.
Start with a diagnostic
10 questions across the syllabus to see where you stand.
We are sourcing PYQs from the official notification PDFs. Coming soon.
Take any mock in your preferred language — use the language picker inside the mock to switch (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, and 15 more).
PRIL — Quick Practice
FULL20 questions · 180 min
Start mock →Full-length subject tests below — 25 questions each, real exam format, instant scoring. Want to drill a single topic? Every topic has its own 10-question test in the syllabus.
Morphology
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What can I get from PRIL?
Mock-score → expected rank → likely outcome. Use the mocks below to find your current band, then plan how many marks you need to climb.
Top 15 — IOL medal prospects
95–100% · Rank 1 – 15
Indian students achieved strong results at the 23rd International Linguistics Olympiad held in Bucharest, Romania. India won one gold medal, three bronze medals and received one Honourable Mention at the international competition.
Round 1 of PLO 2026 was held on 15 February 2026 with 525 registered students and 338 appearing. Top performers qualified for the Invitational Camp in Hyderabad and Round 2 selection.
Bangkok, Thailand has been selected to host the 24th International Linguistics Olympiad from July 21-28, 2027. PLO 2027 cycle will select India's team for this event.
Tap any topic for its study notes + a 10-question topic test
Sound Inventories
Identifying the inventory of vowels and consonants in an unfamiliar language sample.
Phonological Alternations
Spotting rules where sounds change across forms (assimilation, deletion, vowel harmony).
Phonetic Transcription
Mapping IPA-like symbols to spoken forms using puzzle-given keys.
Stress and Tone
Predicting stress patterns or lexical tones from given paradigm data.
Top 50 — IOL team probability
90–95% · Rank 15 – 50
All-India top 200 — Gold medal range
82–90% · Rank 50 – 200
Top 1000 — Medal contention
70–82% · Rank 200 – 800
National merit tier
55–70% · Rank 800 – 3,000
Regional merit range
35–55% · Rank 3,000 – 8,000
Participation level
0–35% · Rank 8,000+
AI-curated from historic cut-off patterns. Always verify with the latest official notification before making decisions.
🏅PLO 2026 Round 1 exam (Senior & Junior)
passedSun, 15 Feb, 2026
525 students registered, 338 appeared; 4-hour paper-based exam
PLO 2026 Round 1 results announced
passedSun, 15 Mar, 2026
Top performers invited to Invitational Camp at IIIT Hyderabad
🏅PLO 2026 Invitational Camp & Round 2 (expected)
passedWed, 15 Apr, 2026
Usually held April-May at IIIT Hyderabad; top 4 selected for Team India
🏅IOL 2026 - Bucharest, Romania
passedMon, 20 Jul, 2026
23rd International Linguistics Olympiad; India won 1 gold, 3 bronze, 1 Honourable Mention
PLO 2027 Registration opens (expected)
81 days awaySun, 15 Nov, 2026
Registration typically opens mid-November; fee Rs 1000
PLO 2027 Online registration closes (expected)
159 days awayMon, 1 Feb, 2027
Usually early February; spot registration also allowed
🏅PLO 2027 Round 1 exam (expected)
172 days awaySun, 14 Feb, 2027
Typically held mid-February; 4-hour offline exam at centres across India
🏅IOL 2027 - Bangkok, Thailand
329 days awayWed, 21 Jul, 2027
24th International Linguistics Olympiad; July 21-28, 2027
Affixation Patterns
Identifying prefixes, suffixes and infixes from word-translation pairs.
Word Order
Inferring SVO/SOV/VSO and modifier-order rules from translated sentences.
Alignment Systems
Distinguishing nominative-accusative vs ergative-absolutive marking from data.
Questions and Negation
Identifying how questions and negation are formed across sentences.
Embedded Clauses
Spotting how relative, complement and adverbial clauses are introduced and marked.
Sentence-Translation Matching
Matching unfamiliar sentences to English translations and explaining each pairing.
Bases (Decimal, Vigesimal, etc.)
Cracking number words built on bases other than 10 — base-20, base-12, mixed bases.
Numeral Composition Rules
Working out additive, multiplicative and subtractive numeral construction.
Large Numbers and Counting
Extending a numeral system to write/decode numbers beyond the given examples.
Alphabets and Abjads
Decoding alphabetic and consonantal scripts from glyph-to-sound mappings.
Abugidas and Syllabaries
Working out syllable-based scripts (Brahmic, Ethiopic) and inherent-vowel rules.
Logographic Scripts
Reasoning over character composition — radicals, semantic and phonetic components.
Transliteration Tasks
Converting between scripts using mapping tables from the puzzle.