Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word.
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@mcc @whitequark my general feeling is that this is true right up until you hit the "no plan survives contact with the enemy" effect of colloquial and informal usage.
@gsuberland @whitequark I like the idea of language speakers and linguists as natural enemies
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@gsuberland @whitequark I like the idea of language speakers and linguists as natural enemies
@mcc @whitequark there's definite tribalism. the first example that came to mind is plural-data (which I hate)
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@ann3nova @kelson The official instructions on how to create a portmanteau (from the preface to "Hunting of the Snark") tell you to keep in your mind simultaneously the sincere intention to say both words, not decide until the last possible moment, and then simply say whatever bursts forth. Rilchiam!
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@syn @mcc wiktionary says that "komsomol" is an acromym (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Komsomol) so i think that's what it's called
@whitequark @syn @mcc interesting that clicking through on a Russian word gives a slightly different name: syllabic abbreviation https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#syllabic_abbreviation
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@mcc @whitequark there's definite tribalism. the first example that came to mind is plural-data (which I hate)
@gsuberland @whitequark These datums
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@whitequark @syn @mcc interesting that clicking through on a Russian word gives a slightly different name: syllabic abbreviation https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#syllabic_abbreviation
@gribnoysup @syn @mcc oh, i guess that's the exact thing mcc is looking for then

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Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word. I notice Japan, which incidentally has a syllabary, seems to create this sort of "acronym" fairly often.
Is there a word, like a linguistics word, for this type of syllabic "acronym"?
@mcc This might be a good place to start for info about that feature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_abbreviated_and_contracted_words
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@gsuberland @whitequark These datums
@mcc @whitequark all my datums, gone
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Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word. I notice Japan, which incidentally has a syllabary, seems to create this sort of "acronym" fairly often.
Is there a word, like a linguistics word, for this type of syllabic "acronym"?
@mcc Like Nabisco (for National Biscuit Company) or SoHo (South of Houston?) Some parts of the internet say "syllabic abbreviations" although obviously that should be shortened to syllabbs.
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Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word. I notice Japan, which incidentally has a syllabary, seems to create this sort of "acronym" fairly often.
Is there a word, like a linguistics word, for this type of syllabic "acronym"?
@mcc
I remember:
The shortening of the name of the show Absolutely Fabulous to AbFab
MST3K using ConHugeCo as a name for a gigantic corporation -
Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word. I notice Japan, which incidentally has a syllabary, seems to create this sort of "acronym" fairly often.
Is there a word, like a linguistics word, for this type of syllabic "acronym"?
@mcc The closest I can find is people just saying "we have no specific English word for this, so we'll borrow the Japanese word ryakugo".
Which is translated as 'abbreviation' but it's kind of like how 'danraku' is translated as 'paragraph' even though they're similar but not really the same thing.
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@mcc @whitequark all my datums, gone
@gsuberland @mcc @whitequark
Time to bring out my absolute favourite linguistics discussion of all time again -
Imagine an "acronym" but instead of taking the first letter of each word, you took the entire first syllable of each word. I notice Japan, which incidentally has a syllabary, seems to create this sort of "acronym" fairly often.
Is there a word, like a linguistics word, for this type of syllabic "acronym"?
@mcc
German does that all the time, but I don't know of any specific term for this. -
This name is unacceptably long, and therefore I propose we shorten it to "SylAb"
@mcc you may also consider it a kind of clipped compound, or ClipCom
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@mcc
German does that all the time, but I don't know of any specific term for this.@slowtiger @mcc I’m having trouble imagining words so long that German needs to shorten them
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@whitequark @syn If wikitionary had actually spelled it "acromym" I would have proposed making it the new official name for the concept
@mcc @whitequark @syn Nazi and Stasi are whatever this is, too. Spotting a pattern...
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@slowtiger @mcc I’m having trouble imagining words so long that German needs to shorten them
@ShadSterling @mcc
We do that for daily use: "Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales Berlin" becomes "Lageso". -
@gsuberland @mcc @whitequark
Time to bring out my absolute favourite linguistics discussion of all time again@http_error_418 @gsuberland @mcc @whitequark The rhyming couplet at the end! *le baiser d'un chef*
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@gsuberland @mcc @whitequark
Time to bring out my absolute favourite linguistics discussion of all time again@http_error_418 @gsuberland @mcc @whitequark
the last one is even kinda readable once you know to read that strange "o" as "the".