Abbreviation
Abbreviation is the process of shortening words or phrases, resulting in condensed forms that facilitate quicker communication. This linguistic practice encompasses various methods, such as clipping, where syllables are dropped (e.g., "cell" for "cellular phone"), and acronyms, which are formed by taking the first letters of each word in a phrase (e.g., NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Initialisms, a specific type of abbreviation, are pronounced letter by letter, such as NAACP. Abbreviations play a significant role in both casual conversation and academic writing, where they can streamline citations and create specialized jargon.
In everyday contexts, abbreviations are prevalent in media and social networking, often emerging out of a need for brevity, especially in character-limited platforms like Twitter. Common examples include "ASAP" (as soon as possible) and "TMI" (too much information). The rise of digital communication has also led to the creation of new abbreviations, like "LOL" (laughing out loud). Understanding abbreviations is essential for effective communication, as they frequently enhance clarity and efficiency in language.
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Abbreviation
“Abbreviation” refers to the process by which words or phrases are shortened and condensed, as well as the product of that process. In the field of linguistics, abbreviation is a broad area of study that covers the many ways in which words have become shortened over time.
Abbreviations are widely used in common speech and popular culture as well as in academic and scholarly journals, where they constitute a specialized vocabulary and are considered jargon. In this setting, abbreviations are primarily used to streamline writing and citations. In common speech, abbreviations save time and can create “insidership” within a particular speech community. In the media, abbreviations are widely used in order to save space.
Background
There are several different ways in which words are shortened or become abbreviated over time. One such way is through clipping, in which one or more syllables are dropped from a word or phrase to create an informal version with the same meaning. “Cell” for “cellular phone” or “lab” for “laboratory” are examples of clipping.
Another method is apheresis, or the omission of a sound or sounds from the beginning of a word, such as saying “’cause” instead of “because.” A more specific form of this phenomenon is aphesis, in which the dropped letter is an initial unstressed vowel. Aphesis is usually a gradual and unintentional process. For example, the word “sample” entered the English language during the Norman invasions of the British Isles as the old French word essemple; over time, the initial e sound was dropped.
Apocope occurs when the end of a word disappears in spoken and written usage over time. For instance, the word “strip” evolved from the Middle English word stripen, which itself came from the Anglo-Saxon word strypan, meaning “to plunder.”
Syncope is when the middle of a word or phrase is dropped. Many poets have used syncope to make words fit the rhythm or rhyme of a poem; one common example is the use of the contraction “o’er” in place of the word “over.” Contractions can also create abbreviations on the phrasal level. For example, “I’d’ve” is a syncope for the phrase “I would have.”
When most people discuss abbreviations, however, they are referring not to these specialized linguistic terms but to shortened word forms such as “St.” for “street” or “Dr.” for “doctor.” Abbreviations can also be acronyms, which shorten phrases by taking the first letter of each subsequent word of the phrase to form a new word, such as NATO (pronounced “nay-toe”) for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Some acronyms have become so commonplace that their spelled-out forms have been forgotten, such as SCUBA, now more commonly written as “scuba,” which stands for “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.” If such an abbreviation is pronounced not as a single word but rather letter by letter, as in the case of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP (conventionally pronounced “en-double-ay-see-pee”), it is known as an initialism rather than an acronym.
Overview
Abbreviations usually arise from a need for efficiency and speed when communicating information. In academic writing, the abbreviation “ibid.” is used in citations. It is short for ibidem, which is Latin for “in the same place” and is used when a writer lists multiple consecutive citations from the same source. Most disciplines have specific jargon and abbreviations. Discipline-specific publications often feature a list or table of abbreviations used in the text.
Many abbreviations are so widely used that they have become part of common culture and are therefore familiar to most people. “ASAP,” for example, which stands for “as soon as possible,” is written and spoken with such regularity that a definition or clarification is rarely necessary. Another example is “TMI,” which stands for “too much information” and is frequently both spoken (as “tee-em-eye”) and written without the need for clarification.
News media and social networking are full of abbreviations. The microblogging service Twitter, which limits each message to only 140 characters or fewer, puts extra pressure on its users to condense language. Many people, when communicating by texting with their mobile phones, forgo complete words in favor of abbreviations such as “r” for “are,” “u” for “you,” and “TTYL” for “talk to you later.” Internet-mediated communication has produced a wide range of abbreviations that have quickly entered the language, most famously “LOL” (laughing out loud) and its associated acronym “ROFL” (rolling on floor laughing). The word “blog” emerged from blending the words “web” and “log.”
Abbreviations are also used to discuss computer hardware. For instance, one of the specs (specifications) of a computer is its RAM (random-access memory), which improves the processing power of a computer. Familiarity with abbreviations is a necessity when navigating meaning.
Bibliography
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