In the process of communication words andword-groups can be shortened. The causes of shortening can be linguistic andextralinguistic. By extra-linguistic causes changes in the life of people aremeant. In Modern English many new abbreviations, acronyms, initials, blends areformed because the tempo of life is increasing and it becomes necessary to givemore and more information in the shortest possible time.

There are also linguistic causes ofshortening words and wordgroups, such as the demand of rhythm, which is satisfiedin English by monosyllabic words. When borrowings from other languages areassimilated in English they are shortened. Here we have modification of form onthe basis of analogy, e.g. the Latin borrowing «fanaticus» is shortened to «fan»on the analogy with native words: man,pan, tan etc. Shortening of words consists in substituting a part for awhole.

An abbreviation came from Latin word “brevis”,meaning “short” it is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually the word “abbreviation” can itself be representedby the abbreviation abbr. or abbrev. Abbreviation has been used aslong as phonetic script existed, in some senses actually being more common inearly literacy, where spelling out a whole word was often avoided, initialletters commonly being used to represent words in specific application. Byclassical Greece and Rome, the reduction of words to single letters was stillnormal, but no longer the default. The standardization of English in the 15ththrough 17^th centuries included such a growth in the use ofabbreviation.

Generally the three subgroups ofabbreviation are regarded: Graphical, Initial and Lexical.

Graphicalabbreviations are the result of shortening of words and word-groups only inwritten speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They areused for the economy of space and effort in writing.

The oldest group of graphical abbreviationsin English is of Latin origin. In these abbreviations Latin words are shortenedin the spelling, while orally the corresponding English equivalents arepronounced in the full form, for example, Latin – a.m. – in the morning (ante meridiem), No – number (numero), p.a.– a year (per annum), d – penny(dinarius), lb – pound (libra), i. e.– that is (id est) etc.

Some graphical abbreviations of Latinorigin have different English equivalents in different contexts, e.g. p.m. can be pronounced “in theafternoon” (post meridiem) and “after death” (post mortem).

There are also graphical abbreviations ofnative origin, where in the spelling we have abbreviations of words andword-groups of the corresponding English equivalents in the full form. In thegraphical abbreviations words are shortened into two, three or four letters. Wehave several semantic groups of them:

a)  days of the week, e.g. Mon –Monday, Tue – Tuesday, Sat –

Saturday;

b)  names of months, e.g. Apr –April, Aug – August;

c)  names of counties in UK, e.g. Yorks– Yorkshire, Berks –

Berkshire;

d)  names of states in USA, e.g. Ala– Alabama, CO – Colorado,

Alas– Alaska;

e)  names of address, e.g. Mr.,Mrs., Ms., Dr.;

f)  military ranks, e.g. capt. – captain, col. – colonel, etc.

Abbreviation is also achieved by omissionof letters from one or more parts of the whole, for example, cdr for commander, doz or dz for dozen, ltd for limited. Scientific degrees: B.A. – Bachelor of Arts, D.M. – Doctor of Medicine.

There is never a period (full stop) betweenletters of the same word. For example, “kilometer”is abbreviated as km and not as(k.m). However, “miles per hour” can be shortened by the acronym m.p.h. or, increasingly common, mph.

Initialabbreviations are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations.When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices theyare closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full forms are used, e.g. J.V. (Joint Venture). When they are usedfor some duration of time they acquire the shortened form of pronouncing andbecome closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC (British Broadcast Corporation) is as a rule pronounced in theshortened form.

Initializes are the way of making the newwords from the initial letters of the word-group, e.g. www (world wide web).

Initialisms which coincide with Englishwords in their sound form are called acronyms,e.g. CLASS (Computer-based Laboratory for Automated School System), CD-ROM(compact disc read-only memory).

Acronymy is theformation of a word from initial letters of a word combination.

There are two basic types of acronyms inEnglish:

•       acronyms with the alphabeticalreading, such as CID [‘si: ‘ai ‘di:] – Criminal Investigation Department; FDA [ֽef di: ‘ei] – The Foodand Drug Administration; NHS [́’en ‘eitј‘es]–TheNational Health Service, etc.

•       acronyms are read as ordinaryEnglish words, e.g. UNESCO [ju:’neskəυ ] – the UnitedNations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization; NATO [‘neitəυ] – North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Abbreviation of words consists in clippinga part of a word. As a result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexicalmeaning or the style is different from the full form of the word. In such casesas fantasy and fancy, fence and defence wehave different lexical meanings. In such cases as laboratory and lab, wehave different styles.

Lexicalabbreviations are classified according to the partof the word which is clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, becausethe beginning of the word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexicalmeaning of the word. This type of final abbreviation is called apocope. Here we can mention a group ofwords, such as disco (discotheque), expo (exposition), exam (examination) com (computer)and many others.

In the case of initial shortenings when thebeginning of the word is clipped we have aphaeresis,e.g. chute (parachute), phone (telephone), copter (helicopter), net (internet)etc.

In the case of medial shortenings when themiddle of the word is clipped, such abbreviation is called syncope e.g. mart(market), maths (mathematics).

Sometimes we have both initial and finalshortenings: tec – detective, quiz –inquisitive, fridge – refrigerator.

Abbreviation does not change theparts-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the case of conversion or affixation,it produces words belonging to the same parts of speech as the primary word,e.g. prof. is a noun and professor is also a noun. Mostly nounsundergo abbreviation, but we can also meet abbreviation of verbs, such as to rev. from to revolve, to tab. from totabulate etc.