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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@whitequark@social.treehouse.systems @mcc@mastodon.social an acronym is when you say the word (NASA, LASER), an initialism is when you say the letters (GPU)
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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 Portmanteau.
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@whitequark @mcc both of those use the first letter of each word, but strictly speaking initialisms are read out as the letters (e.g. BGP, TCP) and acronyms are pronounced as a word (e.g. LARP, PIN), although in practice "acronym" gets used to mean both.
I think what mcc wants is more like "LoRa".
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@whitequark@social.treehouse.systems @mcc@mastodon.social an acronym is when you say the word (NASA, LASER), an initialism is when you say the letters (GPU)
@syn @mcc wiktionary says that "komsomol" is an acromym (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Komsomol) so i think that's what it's called
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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"?
This name is unacceptably long, and therefore I propose we shorten it to "SylAb"
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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 hmm, words like FedEx or SoCal or HiFi (or NaNoWriMo)...I feel like there should be a term for it, but I can't bring one to mind.
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@whitequark @mcc both of those use the first letter of each word, but strictly speaking initialisms are read out as the letters (e.g. BGP, TCP) and acronyms are pronounced as a word (e.g. LARP, PIN), although in practice "acronym" gets used to mean both.
I think what mcc wants is more like "LoRa".
@gsuberland @mcc upon closer inspection there is no consensus on what "acronym" means
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@gsuberland @mcc upon closer inspection there is no consensus on what "acronym" means
@whitequark @mcc yup.
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@mcc Portmanteau.
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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 If wikitionary had actually spelled it "acromym" I would have proposed making it the new official name for the concept
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@mcc that might just be an abbreviation?
@rezzish I was hoping to have a term more specific than abbreviation, since the concept itself is more specific
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@gsuberland @whitequark It's interesting because language is fluid but usually the words used to describe language are more rigid due to them being selected by people whose job it is to describe language
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@gsuberland @whitequark It's interesting because language is fluid but usually the words used to describe language are more rigid due to them being selected by people whose job it is to describe language
@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.
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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
