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LEXICAL UNITS SIMILAR TO ACRONYMS
Ibragimova Gulchekhra Madaminjanovna
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor,
Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages
Andijan, Uzbekistan
It is common knowledge that language develops together with society. Just like society, language
cannot remain motionless or at rest. Language is constantly changing. These changes express the
laws of language development. However, these changes can vary in scale and duration. One of
the most noticeable trends in the development of languages at the present stage is the trend
towards abbreviation.
The active trend towards the widespread use of abbreviated lexical units of various kinds, which
has been quite clearly evident in many languages in recent decades, is obvious and does not
require special proof. Abbreviated words have become firmly established in modern languages.
Their number is extremely large, they make up a significant part of the vocabulary, and they
penetrate almost all layers of vocabulary and are widely used both in oral and - especially - in
written speech.
The emergence of a huge number of abbreviated lexical units in modern languages is
undoubtedly one of the consequences of the vigorously ongoing scientific and technological
revolution, which has generated a mass of new special concepts that need to be given names and
consolidated in the language. It is no coincidence that a particularly high percentage of
abbreviations is noted in the terminology of the most rapidly developing branches of science and
technology - astronautics and aviation, radio electronics, rocketry, nuclear physics, etc. The most
typical representative of a small but very common group of lexical units similar to acronyms is
the word јеер. The main difference between this group of lexical units and "standard" acronyms
is the fact that they acquire their "acronymic" form not through a one-time, one-act process, but
as a result of the transformation of the sound-letter abbreviation.
The word
јеер
, according to numerous sources [5], arose on the basis of the abbreviation
GP
['ʤi:
'pi:] < general purpose. Frequent use of the abbreviation
GP
, along with the action of some
other factors, led to its phonetic, as well as lexical and grammatical modification. The example
of the word
јеер
clearly shows the adaptation of the "material shell" (phonetic and graphic form)
of the abbreviation to some common models of the phonetic structure of an ordinary word. From
the point of view of its phonetic structure, the word
јеер
fits perfectly into a series of words with
a similar sound-letter composition:
keep
[ki:p],
deep
[di:p],
seep
[si:p],
weep
[wi:p]. Thus, here,
as in the case of acronyms, we can talk about the pressure of the language system, meaning the
typical phonetic structures of words.
The history of the development of the system of meanings of the word
јеер
is of interest. Its
original and basic meaning is "a small general-purpose truck used in the armed forces." Based on
this basic meaning, a fairly developed system of meanings arose. Of the large number of
meanings and shades of meaning that the word
јеер
has in modern use, the following meanings
are usually indicated in dictionaries: [1]
1) A 1/4-ton general-purpose truck of the army type.
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2) In general, any car, especially small ones.
3) A recruit.
4) A general-purpose flight simulator.
5) An escort aircraft carrier.
6) A small floating car.
In addition, the word jeep can be used in the meanings of "a soldier's girlfriend", "a person in the
Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve", etc. As M. Berger points out, "in the (American) army,
"jeep" means a certain model of car or a recruit, and in individual garrisons it has many other
meanings." [4] However, generally speaking, the numerous private (and local) meanings of the
word
jeep
do not go beyond the general meaning: "(any) small general-purpose vehicle" or "a
person who does not have special training"; for example, a "recruit" is a soldier who has not yet
received a specialty, that is, figuratively speaking, "a general-purpose soldier. The meaning "(any)
small general-purpose vehicle" is easily distinguished, for example, in the following phrases with
jeep:
aquatic jeep
- "small high-speed general-purpose boat";
aerial jeep
(airborne jeep, flying jeep) – «a small general-purpose aircraft»;
space jeep
- «a small spacecraft (for example, for transportation from a spacecraft to the surface
of the Moon)»;
jeep of the deep
– «an ultra-small (single-seat) submarine».
Having become widespread and established in the language, the word
jeep
(meaning «a small
truck») gives derivatives of two types.
Firstly, these are derivative words formed using traditional methods of word formation
characteristic of the English language:
a) using affixes:
jeep
«a jeep driver»,
jeepable
«allowing transportation on jeeps»;
b) by compounding:
jeep-mounted
«mounted on a jeep»,
jeephead
(by analogy with railhead,
truckhead, airhead - in turn formed by analogy with bridgehead) «point of loading and unloading
of jeeps»;
c) by conversion:
to jeep
«to go (to transport) in a jeep».
The word
јеер
can act as a productive base in secondary meanings; for example, from
јеер
meaning «new recruit»
jeepville
«new recruit camp» is formed
Secondly, the word
јеер
acts as a special kind of model for a whole series of new words with the
same general meaning «a small general-purpose vehicle». The formation of this group of words
combines the influence of the model and elements of one of the methods of abbreviation –
telescoping.
beep < baby jeep – «ultra-small jeep»;
fleep < flexible-wing jeep – «small general-purpose aircraft with flexible wings»;
fleep < flying jeep – «small general-purpose aircraft»;
seep < sea-going jeep – «floating jeep»;
veep < VHF (very high frequency radio)-equipped, jeep – «jeep with ultra-short-wave radio
station».
peep < ? + jeep – «ultra-small jeep».
Note that in this series of words the «model identifier» -
jeep
is quite clearly distinguished. It is
interesting to note that being a widespread word,
јеер
served as the basis for the creation of the
acronym-homonym
JEEP
< Joint Establishment (for Nuclear Energy Research) Experimental
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Pile – “experimental reactor of the joint administration of research in the field of nuclear energy”
[6]. The intentionality of the creation of this acronym-homonym is emphasized in the structural
plan by the omission of a number of words in the correlate - (for Nuclear Energy Research), - as
well as by the lexical-semantic moment - the fact that the reactor designated by this acronym is
small-sized. The widespread prevalence of the basic concept expressed by the word јеер led to
the fact that this word - in its basic meaning - was borrowed by many languages: Uzbek
jip
,
German
der Јеер
, French
la јеер
, Italian
la јеер
, Spanish
е1 јеер
, Swedish.
јеер
, etc.
Undoubtedly, under the influence of јеер, the abbreviation
VP
[vi: 'pi:] < vice president "vice
president" was given the form veep [vi:p] in English.
Other formations similar to acronyms, which arose on the basis of sound-letter abbreviations,
and sometimes conventional (code) designations, include:
Absie < ABS - "the name of the American broadcasting station during the Second World War"
Duck < DUCW - "floating car";
Elsie < LC < landing craft - "landing craft";
lice < LCIs < landing craft, infantry – «infantry landing craft»;
Nancy < NC «seaplane sample»;
Purp < PRP < War Production Board’s Production Requirements Plan – «war production board
production requirements plan»;
Tipsy < TPS AN/TPS-ID – «radar station sample»;
Sea Bees < Cbs < Construction Battalions – «marine engineering and construction units».
Lexical units of this kind are not exclusive to modern English; similar formations are found, for
example, in Russian. “быки” < BK < боекомплекты, “пешка” < Pe-2 (aircraft marking),
“Раиса” < RS < реактивный снаряд, “папаша” < PPSh < пистолет- пулемёт Шпагина, etc.
These lexical units reflect general tendencies that are also characteristic of acronymy: the desire
to use typical phonetic structures of words and the desire to providing motivation, and the latter
brings them closer to the phenomena of folk etymology.
The process of acronymy allows us to create new words, using, in particular, these inexhaustible
potential possibilities.
And we emphasize that in the phenomena of abbreviation and acronymy only some of the
inexhaustible possibilities of language are manifested. The potential possibilities of language are
numerous and extensive, and as the language develops they will not narrow, but, on the contrary,
expand.
LITERATURE
:
1.
“Англо-русский военный словарь”, 2-е издание. Под ред. Г.А. Судзиловского. –
М., 1968.
2.
Acronyms and Initialisms Dictionary. Edited by R.C. Thomas, G.M. Ethridge and F.G.
Ruffner. Gale Research Co. Detroit, 1965.
3.
Baum S.V. Feminine Characterictics of the Acronym. “American Speech”, vol. XXXI,
1956. – Pp. 224-225.
4.
Berger, М. Army Language. “American Speech”, XX, 1945. – Р. 261.
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5.
Merriam-Webster. Webster's Third New International Dictionary
. – G & C Merriam
Company, Publishers Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1969. -
2783 p.
6.
Sarbacher, R.I. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Electronics and Nuclear Engineering.
London, 1959.
