Variable article use with acronyms and initialisms. A contrastive analysis of English, German and Italian
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Publication date
2019
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01A - Journal article
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Parent work
Languages in Contrast
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Volume
19
Issue / Number
1
Pages / Duration
48-78
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Publisher / Publishing institution
John Benjamins
Place of publication / Event location
Amsterdam
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Abstract
Shortening is a common type of word-formation in many languages. Crystal (2008) distinguishes two kinds of abbreviation: initialisms and acronyms. Article use in English is variable with both acronyms and initialisms used as proper names (e.g. (the) UKIP, at the UN vs. at MIT). The question is whether variability is largely dependent on the semantics of the underlying full form (i.e. whether this is derived from a proper name or common noun) or whether the two types of abbreviation show different behaviour with respect to variable article use. This paper uses data from CoStEP, a new, word-aligned version of EuroParl, and a data-driven approach to investigate variable article use with abbreviations and their full forms uttered by Eng- lish native speakers and compares the findings to data from parallel German and Italian corpora. The results show higher article variability in English and a marked preference for and near categorical article use in German and Italian. Furthermore, our evidence confirms that acronyms tend towards the proper name end of the cline, while initialisms behave syntactically more like common nouns.
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Subject (DDC)
330 - Wirtschaft
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1569-9897
1387-6759
1387-6759
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
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Peer review of the complete publication
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Closed
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Citation
CALLEGARO, Elena, Simon CLEMATIDE, Marianne HUNDT und Wick SARA, 2019. Variable article use with acronyms and initialisms. A contrastive analysis of English, German and Italian. Languages in Contrast. 2019. Bd. 19, Nr. 1, S. 48–78. DOI 10.1075/lic.16021.cal. Verfügbar unter: https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/42470