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The Abbreviations

Consistency and clarity are important to the use of abbreviations. Sometimes translators, editors and other users of the language hesitate before certain uses of abbreviations and wonder if certain uses are advisable. The different types of abbreviation are acronym, acronym, shortening, abbreviation and symbol. Below we present the rules of use in Spanish as recommended by the Royal Spanish Academy and, in the case of abbreviations, by José Martínez de Sousa in his Spelling Dictionary of the Spanish language.

1. Acronym: Abbreviation formed by the initials of two or more words of a compound term.

TYPES OF ACRONYMS ACCORDING TO THEIR PRONUNCIATION

1. Acronym that is pronounced letter by letter.
   • DNI= National Identity Document

There is a tendency to create words formed by reading the letters of the acronym. Martínez de Sousa calls these words alphonyms.

• NGO= oenegé
• CD-ROM= cederrón

1. Acronym that is pronounced as a word. It is also called an acronym.

• UN = United Nations Organization
• ufo= unidentified flying object

RULES FOR THE USE OF ACRONYMS

• They do not have a plural mark.' the district GDPs' and not ' the district GDPs '
  (GDP 'gross domestic product')
• They adopt the gender of the term core.' la ALADI' for the Latin American Integration Association
  ' la PYME ' for small and medium -sized enterprises
• They are written without points or spaces.
• They are followed by the full name and the translation or the translation or equivalence is written first, putting the acronym in parentheses afterwards.BDC(Business Development Bank of Canada, Canada Trade Development Bank)
  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

2. Acronym: Abbreviation formed by the initial elements (syllables or letters) of two or more words of a compound term.

TYPES OF ACRONYMS ACCORDING TO THEIR FORMATION

1. Acronym that, in a compound term, is formed by taking the beginning of the first word and the end of the last, or by other combinations.

emoticono (from English 'emotion' , emotion, and 'icon', icon)
Mercosur (Common Market of the South)
cuc (Cuban convertible)

1. Acronym that is formed only with the initial elements of a compound term. Also known as acronym.
   • AIDS= acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
   • ct= computerized axial tomography

RULES FOR THE USE OF ACRONYMS

• Once incorporated into the common lexicon, the acronyms form the plural following the general rules of their formation in Spanish emoticons, UFOs, radars.
• When they contain four or more letters, the initial letter can be capitalized followed by lowercase: Mercosur.
• Most of the acronyms formed by the union of elements of two or more words have adopted the masculine gender, even when, in translation, the core word of the abbreviated foreign expression is feminine; thus, it is said to be a pulsar,(from the English pulsating star) even though 'star' (from the English star) is feminine. Sometimes the masculine is explained by implying a suppressed masculine concept: the laser [beam], even though 'light' is

3. Shortening: Abbreviation resulting from the elimination of the initial or final syllables of a word. Also called abbreviation.
   • bus= bus
   • Mac= Macintosh

RULES FOR THE USE OF SHORTENINGS:

• They keep the gender of the whole word.
  • the movie= the movie
• The plural of nouns is formed according to the general rules: freeones (gratifications); with a few exceptions such as hypermarkets (hypermarkets) and super markets (supermarkets).
• The shortenings that have an adjective function remain unchanged in number.
  • bike tracks= bike of ' bike '

4. Abbreviation: Abbreviation that results from the suppression of final or central letters of a word, and that is usually closed with a period.
   • ditto=
   • Company=
   • Foreign Affairs= EE.
   • Olympic Games= OO.
   • His Majesty =M.
   • Director=
   • Santa= Or sta.
   • Miss=

RULES FOR THE FORMATION OF ABBREVIATIONS

• When the abbreviation is formed by truncating it in the middle of a syllable, all the consonants that make up the head are preserved. None of these abbreviations must end in a vowel.
  • imprenta=
  • article= article
  • prologue=
• When the first letter and the final syllable are taken from a word, it must be complete.
  • our=
  • our=
  • teacher=
• Flown letters should be avoided, except in cases where there may be confusion.
  • approval= ° B.°

THE SHORT DOT

Abbreviations always have a period. But, if the abbreviation occurs at the end of the sentence or paragraph, then the abbreviation period replaces the final period.

Juan came in third place and Carlos in fourth.
Juan came in 3rd ^place and Carlos in 4th

The abbreviated dot does not replace any other sign that requires the abbreviation.

• and so on? = etc?
• United States,= USA,
• book…= l….

In some abbreviations, the period is replaced by a slash.

• charge= w/
• days date= d/f.

Both signs should not be used for a single abbreviation. The street abbreviation is c/ o c. and not c /.

SPECIAL CASE: etcetera

The abbreviation ' etc.' can go to the end of a line or paragraph, except if it itself forms a line. In such a case the word etcetera should be used.

CAPITAL LETTERS IN ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations must be written with the spelling that corresponds to the abbreviated word; except for certain exceptions as in NB ' nota bene ' or PD ' postscript '

Treatment abbreviations are always capitalized. For example:

• Doctor=
• Sir=
• Lady=
• Don=
• Doña = ª
• Excellency=
• His Holiness= SS
• Reverend=
• Priest (religious)=
• usted= o Ud.

PLURAL OF ABBREVIATIONS

It is formed by adding the morpheme -s if the abbreviation was formed by truncation of a syllable, -es if the abbreviation was formed by taking the first letter and the final syllable, or by doubling the letter of the abbreviation when it was formed with only the initial letter of the word.

• virgins= virgins .
• railways= cc.
• parents (religious)=
• pages= or pgs.
• actual orders= ÓÓ.
• Olympic Games= OO.
• Foreign Affairs= EE.
• you= or you. or you

In abbreviations with flown letters, the plural must be used in them.

• numbers = ^you

GENDER OF THE ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations must express the gender of the abbreviated word.

• Lady=
• our=
• Excelentísima=

ABBREVIATIONS OF NUMBERS

The abbreviations of numbers are always given in ordinals and are expressed with figures and flown letters. In this way confusion between numbers and degrees is avoided.

• first= 1st
• second= 2nd
• twenty-eighth= 28th

5. Symbol: Abbreviation determined by national or international organizations. It is not written with an abbreviated period and does not take a plural form. These are the symbols of the international system of units (SI), of degrees, of the cardinal points and of the chemical elements.