Abbreviation

Shortening or contraction

Shortening and abbreviation

Shortening or abbreviation is the process of subtraction of a part of the original word.

Shortening may be also called clipping, curtailment or contracting of words.

The generally accepted classification of shortened words is based on the position of the clipped part. According to the part of the word that is cut off – final, initial or middle we distinguish:

1) final clipping (or apocope) in which the beginning of the prototype is retained; e.g. lab < lab oratory;

2) initial clipping (or apheresis [{'fi@risis], or aphesis['{fisis]) in which the final part of the prototype is retained; e.g. chute < para chute;

3) medial clipping (or syncope) ['siÎk@pi] in which the middle part of the prototype is left out; e.g. specs < spec tacle s;

4) final clipping may be combined with initial clipping and result in curtailed words with the middle part of the prototype retained; e.g. flu < in flu enza.

There are cases when curtailment is combined with affixation; e.g. night ie < night dress + - ie.

There are also cases when curtailment is combined with composition that result in compound shortening; e.g. satcom < sat ellite com munication.

Among such formations there is a special group of derivatives named blends, blendings, fusions or portmanteau [pþt'm{nt@u] words; they are formed by clipping combined with blending; e.g. smog < smo ke + f og.

There are cases when the words slide or inserted into one another without any clipping; this process is called telescoping; e.g. alcoholiday < alco hol + hol iday “a drinking spree”.

There is a special type of curtailed forms base on clipped phrases; they result from a combined effect of curtailment, ellipsis and substantivation. Ellipsis is defined as the omission of a word or words in a word-combination or phrase; e.g. finals < final examinations.

Abbreviations are formed from the initial letters of the prototype word or word-combination. Here we distinguish two main types of abbreviations:

1) initial-letterabbreviations retaining the alphabetical reading of each constituent letter; e.g. B.B.C. ['bÖ'bÖ'sÖ] < B ritish B roadcasting C orporation;

2) initial-soundabbreviations or acronyms when the abbreviated written form can be read as an ordinary English word; e.g. Nato ['neit@u] < N orth A tlantic T reaty O rganization.

The term abbreviation can also be applied for a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in a text in place of the whole, for economy of space and effort. Such abbreviations are called graphic as they are not separate words but only graphic signs or symbols representing them pronounced like full words; e.g. bldg < building.

A special type of graphic abbreviations is represented by Latinabbreviations which sometimes are not read as Latin words but substituted by there English equivalents; e.g. (< e xempli g ratia) “for example”.

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