Abbreviations and words at the same time: Acronyms in Serbian

Abstract

This paper deals with forms like CeSID, RTS and GSP in Serbian, one type of words made by shortening. In spite of the fact that in domestic theory and practice they are traditionally called and considered abbreviations, most of these forms in practice behave as if they were words. Starting from this pragmatic point and main hypothesis that what is involved here are hybrid lexical units, part abbreviations, part words, which therefore should receive a different theoretical and methodological treatment and terminological designation - acronyms, the aim of the present article is to corroborate this basic premise by offering linguistically informed explication and authentic exemplification, from four interconnected angles: (1) twelve questions with answers concerning the status of these forms in the light of their actual behaviour in everyday writing and speech, (2) form- and content-related properties which make these forms abbreviations in one way, words in the other, and which precise properties determine them as acronyms, (3) a pragmatic-functional typology of acronyms, and (4) theoretical, methodological and practical implications of the proposed interpretation of the nature of acronyms.