Abbreviations and acronyms in English

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRACTICAL ANALYSIS OF  ACRONYMS AS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR KIND OF ABBREVIATION

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters (as in CEO) or parts of words (as in Benelux and Ameslan). There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms nor on written usage. While popular in recent English, such abbreviations have historical use in English and other languages. As a type of word formation process, acronyms and initialisms are viewed as a subtype of blending.

Terminology

  The term acronym is the name for a word from the first letters of each word in a series of words (such as sonar, created from  sound  navigation  and  ranging). Attestations for "Akronym" in German are known from 1921, and for "acronym" in English from 1940.While the word abbreviation refers to any shortened form of a word or a phrase, some have used initialism or alphabetism to refer to an abbreviation formed simply from, and used simply as, a string of initials.

Although the term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters, [10] most dictionaries define acronym to mean "a word" in its original sense, [3, 12, 17] while some include additional senses attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism. [4,10]  According to the first definition found in most dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO (/ˈneɪtoʊ/), scuba (/ˈskuːbə/), and radar (/ˈreɪdɑr/), while examples of initialisms are FBI (/ˌɛfˌbiːˈaɪ/) and HTML (/ˌeɪtʃˌtiːˌɛmˈɛl/).

There is no agreement on what to call abbreviations whose pronunciation involves the combination of letter names and words, such as JPEG (/ˈdʒeɪpɛɡ/) and         MS-DOS (/ˌɛmɛsˈdɒs/).

There is also some disagreement as to what to call abbreviations that some speakers pronounce as letters and others pronounce as a word. For example, the terms URL and IRA can be pronounced as individual letters: /ˌjuːˌɑrˈɛl/ and /ˌaɪˌɑrˈeɪ/, respectively; or as a single word: /ˈɜrl/ and /ˈaɪərə/, respectively. Such constructions, however—regardless of how they are pronounced—if formed from initials, may be identified as initialisms without controversy.

The spelled-out form of an acronym or initialism (that is, what it stands for) is called its expansion.

Examples of different types of acronyms

1. Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters

• AIDS: acquired immune deficiency syndrome

• NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• Scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
• Laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

 

2. Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters

• Amphetamine: alpha-methyl-phenethylamine

• Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei (secret state police)
• Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization
• Nabisco: National Biscuit Company

 

3. Pronounced as a word, containing a mixture of initial and non-initial letters

• Necco: New England Confectionery Company

• Radar: radio detection and ranging

 

4. Pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context

• FAQ: ([fæk] or ef-a-cue) frequently asked questions

• IRA: When used for Individual Retirement Account, can be pronounced as letters (i-ar-a) or as a word [ˈaɪrə].
• SAT: ([sæt] or ess-a-tee) (previously) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s)(US) or Standard Assessment Test(s) (UK), now claimed not to stand for anything.
• SQL: ([siːkwəl] or ess-cue-el) Structured Query Language.

 

5. Pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word

• CD-ROM: (cee-dee-[rɒm]) Compact Disc read-only memory

• IUPAC: (i-u-[pæk]) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
• JPEG: (jay-[pɛɡ]) Joint Photographic Experts Group
• SFMOMA: (ess-ef-[moʊmə]) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

 

6. Pronounced only as the names of letters

• BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

• OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
• USA: The United States of America
• IRA: When used for the Irish Republican Army or organisations claiming descent from this group

 

7. Pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
• AAA:

• (triple A) American Automobile Association; abdominal aortic aneurysm; anti-aircraft artillery; Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

• (three As) Amateur Athletic Association
• IEEE: (I triple E) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• NAACP: (N double A C P) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• NCAA: (N C double A or N C two A or N C A A) National Collegiate Athletic Association

 

8. Shortcut incorporated into name

• 3M: (three M) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

• E3: (E three) Electronic Entertainment Exposition
• W3C: (W three C) World Wide Web Consortium
• C4ISTAR: (C four I star) Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance

 

9. Multi-layered acronyms
• NAC Breda: (Dutch football club) NOAD ADVENDO Combinatie ("NOAD ADVENDO Combination"), formed by the 1912 merger of two clubs, NOAD (Nooit Opgeven Altijd Doorgaan "Never give up, always persevere") and ADVENDO (Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning "Pleasant for its entertainment and useful for its relaxation") from Breda
• GAIM: GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger
• GIMP: GNU Image Manipulation Program
• VHDL: VHSIC hardware description language, where VHSIC stands for very-high-speed integrated circuit.

 

10. Recursive acronyms, in which the abbreviation refers to itself

• GNU: GNU's not Unix!

• WINE: WINE Is Not an Emulator (originally, WINdows Emulator)
• PHP: PHP hypertext pre-processor (formerly personal home page)
• These may go through multiple layers before the self-reference is found:
• HURD: HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons, where "HIRD" stands for "HURD of interfaces representing depth"

 

11. Pseudo-acronyms, which consist of a sequence of characters that, when pronounced as intended, invoke other, longer words with less typing (see also Internet slang)

• CQ: cee-cue for "seek you", a code used by radio operators (also is an editorial term meaning "Copy Qualified" in print media)

• IOU: i-o-u for "I owe you" (a true acronym would be IOY)
• K9: kay-nine for "canine", used to designate police units utilizing dogs
• Q8: cue-eight for "Kuwait"

 

12. Initialisms whose last abbreviated word is often redundantly included anyway

• ATM  machine: Automated Teller Machine machine

• DSW Shoe Warehouse: Designer Shoe Warehouse Shoe Warehouse
• HIV virus: Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus
• VIN number: Vehicle Identification Number number
• PIN number: Personal Identification Number number
• LCD display: Liquid Crystal Display display

Jargon

Acronyms and initialisms often occur in jargon. An initialism may have different meanings in different areas of industry, writing, and scholarship. The general reason for this is convenience and succinctness for specialists, although it has led some to obfuscate the meaning either intentionally, to deter those without such domain-specific knowledge, or unintentionally, by creating an initialism that already existed.

The most common acronyms and expressions:

• BTW - By The Way
• FYI - For Your Information
• IMHO - In My Humble/Honest Opinion
• RTFM - Read The Manual ("Manual" here refers to any documentation)
• LOL - Laughed Out Loud
• RSN - Real Soon Now
• ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing

These are less common, but show up occasionally:

• YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary (taken from a disclaimer that legally must be given any time automotive fuel efficiency ratings are used in U.S. advertisements)
• TIA - Thanks In Advance

Jargon that is sometimes used:

• spam - Unsolicited email sent to many people simultaneously, usually commercial, but occasionally political.
• bounce - A message that was returned to the sender, either because the email address was incorrect or because there was a configuration problem on the receiver's end. Can also be a verb: "I tried sending email to my Aunt Mabel, but it bounced. I guess she doesn't work there any more."
• distribution list - A single email address that resends to many others, allowing a discussion to continue easily among a quasi-stable group of participants. Also called emailing lists or listservs (from LIST SERVers).
• bot - A piece of software that acts on behalf of and in place of a remote human (from roBOT).
• mailbot - A piece of software that automatically replies to email.
• listbot - A piece of software that manages distribution lists. Also called a listserver or majordomo (after the name of a common list server).
• post - Send to a distribution list or Usenet newsgroup, i.e. to a quasi-stable group of people.
• flame - An electronic message that is particularly hostile. Can also be a verb: "Whooeee! I posted a rude cat joke to my company's cat-lovers mailing list, and wow, did I get flamed!"
• lurk - To read messages anonymously (in either a mailing list or Usenet newsgroup) without posting.
• ping - Test to see if the other person is there/awake/available. (This comes from a Unix test to see if a machine (or its net connection) was active or not.) "Lunch tomorrow? I may be busy with a client. Ping me at eleven thirty or so."

Acronyms as legendary etymology

It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of false etymology, called a  folk etymology, for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no factual basis in historical linguistics, and are examples of language-related urban legends. For example, cop is commonly cited as being derived, it is presumed, from "constable on patrol," posh from "port out, starboard home", and golf from "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden". Taboo words in particular commonly have such false etymologies: shit from "ship/store high in transit"[5, 19] or "special high-intensity training" and fuck from "for unlawful carnal knowledge", or "fornication under consent of the king" [5]

 

Conclusion to the Chapter II

In the Chapter II we studied the notion of acronym. We learned that  the term acronym is the name for a word from the first letters of each word in a series of words. We examined  different types of acronyms and considered the usage of  acronyms in slang.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

In this reserch we have looked at a number of word-formation processes. We have seen that English has a rich inventory of such word-formation processes, including conversion, truncation, blending and abbreviation. We have considered the notion of abbreviation and acronyms,  studied different conventions for abbreviations, considered different methods of formation of acronyms and abbreviations. We considered acronyms and abbreviations in different field, but especially we considered the usage of acronyms in slang and  find out, that they are widely used, especially in jargons. We can make the conclusion that this theme is very actually, because abbreviations and acronyms are the most productive lexical units and communicatively important in all spheres of human activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                   List of literature

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2. Abel Coetzee, ed. (1969). Woordeboek/Dictionary; Afrikaans-English / Engels-Afrikaans. Glasgow and Johannesburg: Collins.
3. "Cambridge Dictionary of American English", accessed Oct 5, 2008
4. Crystal, David.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
5. "Etymonline.com". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2010-09-16
6. Fischer, Roswitha. (1998). Lexical change in present-day English: A corpus-based study of the motivation, institutionalization, and productivity of creative neologisms. Tübingen: G. Narr.
7. Ingo Plag. Word-formation in English. Cambridge University Press Series ‘Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics’ - Access mode: http://inethub.olvi.net.ua/ftp/library/share/%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BE%D1%8D%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0/plag%20i.word%20formation%20in%20english.2002.pdf
8. International Bureau of Weights and Measures - 2006
9. Language Log: Orphan initialisms
10. Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, 1994. pp. 21–2:
11. New Hart's Rules: The handbook of style for writers and editors. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
12. Oxford Concise Dictionary. – Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1964.
13. Spelling Society : Shortcuts 1483–1660
14. "The Choctaw Expression 'Okeh' and the Americanism 'Okay'". Jim Fay. 2007-09-13. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
15. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. – Oxford: Oxford University Press. –  1991 -  p. 12
16. "Very deep multiply nested acronyms". Newscientist.com. 2010-07-07. Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
17. "Webster's Online Dictionary (2001)", accessed Oct 7, 2008: Acronym "A word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name."
18. "What does "OK" stand for?" The Straight Dope. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
19. Wilton, David (2004). Word myths: debunking linguistic urban legends
20. Зацний Ю.А. Розвиток словникового складу сучасної англійської мови. – Запоріжжя: Запорізький державний університет, 1998. – 431 с.
21. Ожоган В. Наукові записки. Серія: Філологічні науки. Стаття : Особливості формування та функціонування ініціальних абревіатур у сучасній анлійській мові – Кіровоград: Кіровоградський державний педагогічний університет ім. Володимира Винниченка , -Access mode: http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/soc_gum/Nz/89_4/statti/06.pdf
22. Дюжикова Е.А. Аббревиация сравнительно со словосложением (на материале современного английского языка). - М.: 1997.- 50с.