The abbreviation of words in Russian: rules and examples

The abbreviation of words in the Russian language is a very important phenomenon. Contrary to popular belief, it affects not only grammar, but also other areas of life. Let's find out why we need to truncate words, and also consider what terms can be “encrypted” in this way and what rules should be followed.

What is called the abbreviation of words and phrases in Russian?

When it comes to something like this, it is a physical reduction in the size of one or more tokens.

For example, when sending a letter, we usually always use their "truncated" options: st. (street), city (city), s. (village), village (house) and the like.

Why is all this necessary?

For what reason are abbreviations used in Russian and almost all others?

This is done to save. First of all, time and material for recording. After all, there is a difference whether to write the noun "gigacalorie" or its analogue "Gcal". And if in the text this term is used more than once or twice, but more than a hundred times - imagine how much faster it will be written if you use a short form. Not to mention the savings on this paper.

In addition, truncated words allow the brain to “recognize” them faster. For this reason, in physical and mathematical calculations in any of the areas, most quantities are written in abbreviated form. For example, cm (centimeters), kg (kilograms), W (watts), J (Joules) and the like. So, this phenomenon is of great importance for the exact sciences.

Another reason for “cutting” the terms is their aesthetic appearance. Often, instead of the word "year" or "century", we use only their first letters: 1980 or the 19th century. In this form, they look more neat, especially when written on postcards, covers or posters.

Who and how establishes possible ways to reduce

Encode a word by reducing it is always much easier than understanding what is written. Therefore, so that there are no problems with "decryption", there is a certain GOST of the abbreviation of words in Russian. It indicates how and what terms can be “trimmed” in the official documentation.

Knowing such rules, anyone can figure out which term has been abbreviated, as well as use such tricks without fear of making a mistake or being misunderstood.

The last of these GOSTs (7.0. 12-2011) was developed by the Technical Committee for Standardization at the end of 2011 and officially began to operate on September 1, 2012. Before it, the GOSTs of 1977 and 1994 were the most famous.

The generally accepted abbreviations of words in Russian, described in such documents, are primarily intended for use by scientific and technical information authorities, in book chambers, by all types of publishing houses, as well as by persons who create or use bibliographic records. In practice, this means that they can be used in any field.

Kinds

What are the ways to reduce words in Russian? According to GOST, there are three of them: contraction, truncation, and mixed. However, in practice they are used much more. Let's look at the most famous of them.

• Graphic drawing. This is such a way when letters are deliberately omitted in terms, and their place is occupied by graphic signs: periods, hyphens or slashes. For example: Mr. (Mr.), Railway (railway). It is worth noting that some scholars attribute the last two examples to abbreviation (what it is to see in the next paragraph).
• Graphic truncation of a part of the token. In this case, the term "is removed" its end, instead of which a dot is placed: max. (maximum), Assoc. (assistant professor). It is important to note that in units of measurement and other established abbreviations, graphic signs are not set. For example: mm (millimeter), lm (lumen).
• Carving. This is such an abbreviation of words in the Russian language, in which all the extra letters, often vowels, are “removed” from the names: a trillion (10 ¹² ) - trillion. This method differs from the previous method by the absence of any graphic signs at the place of the passes. This method is rarely used and is not considered in GOST, but it exists.
• Complicated names obtained by removing the "excess" without filling in the blanks. Most often, this method is used for phrases in which the initial parts of their components are combined. So from the head of the farm came "supply manager" and "salary" from wages. Sometimes a new term is formed from the beginning of one component phrase + the second word: "kindergarten" from "kindergarten", "manufactured goods" from "industrial goods". This method also does not apply to the "sphere of interests" of GOST. This is probably due to the fact that the educated terms have long "taken root" in the language and are already perceived as full names.
  
• Mixed. There is a combination of several methods at once, as, for example, in the case of a junior research assistant - Ph.D. or the name "Kama Automobile Plant" - KamAZ.
  
• Abbreviation. This method requires special attention, therefore it is worth highlighting a separate item for its consideration.

Abbreviations in Russian

This type of reduction is one of the oldest, even its name indicates - derived from the Latin term brevis, which means "short".

Abbreviation differs from the usual abbreviation in that, as a rule, it is used not for “trimming” individual long words, but for phrases. When it is used only the first letters: Chernobyl - Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The term obtained by the output is an abbreviation. Moreover, it can consist of both capital letters (CIA) and lowercase (university).

The relationship between abbreviation and abbreviation of words in the Russian language has always been difficult. Some scientists believe that abbreviation is a form of contraction. Others refer complex terms to a variety of abbreviations.

While these disputes are ongoing, let's find out what types of the latter exist:

• Initial, consisting of capital letters. Arises from the first letters of the terms: Ministry of Emergency Situations (Ministry of Emergency Situations) or USA (United States of America).
• The initial abbreviation consisting of lowercase letters is a morgue (the place of final registration of citizens) or a homeless person (without a fixed place of residence).

It is worth paying attention to the fact that classical abbreviations are written without graphic characters. If they are present, these are mixed abbreviations (if we consider abbreviation as one of their subspecies).

In GOST, this method of abbreviation is also not particularly distinguished, however, in the general rules there are references to abbreviations.

Special cases

Before you consider the basic rules that govern modern abbreviations of words in Russian, it is worth learning about a special list. It is attached to each GOST and it includes the most common terms that you can trim. And it includes not only words, but also phrases: b. c. - no price, grav. on the village - woodcut, i.e. - that is, tit. from. - cover page and the like.

With each new GOST, the list grows, as more and more new concepts appear. For example, in GOST 7.12–94, only two examples were indicated on the letter “Ts”: “color” (color) and “price” (color). While in modern there are six of them: “color” and “color” (tsv.), “Price” (c.), “Censorship” (censored), “zincography” (zincgr.) And “digital” (digital .).

The increase in the list is directly related to the amount of use in writing of a given term. So in 1994, the adjective "digital" was used only in specialized literature and documentation for certain equipment. However, today it can be found in absolutely any text, and therefore it was attributed to special cases. The appearance of a noun “censorship” in this list, which seems to have become much more commonly used in literature today, is alarming, although this is a completely different story ...

Such a list of special cases should be reviewed before trying to independently reduce a particular word or vice versa, to understand what a certain reduction means. If what you are looking for is not in it, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves, and, guided by the rules, “trim” the desired term.

General laws

So, if you were unable to find your name in the above list, then you will have to reduce its size on your own, according to certain principles. What are the rules for reducing words in modern Russian? They are divided into groups: general, for nouns, adjectives and participles.

To get started, let's look at the general ones:

• It is permissible to abbreviate terms belonging to different parts of speech. Moreover, any of them will have the same option, regardless of case, number, gender, person or time. It is assumed that all this data will be understood from the context. For example: type. - can mean not only any of the cases of the noun "typography", but also the adjective "typographical / second / second / second".
• Regardless of the method used, the result should consist of two or more letters, except for generally accepted cases and terms indicated in the specialized list of abbreviations of words in the Russian language (more on this in the previous paragraph). As an example, it is worth recalling: a sheet (l.), A ruble near the numbers (p.), Volume (t.), Price (c.), Part (h.) Or page (p.). But they are more likely an exception, not a rule, and can create confusion. So, the above mentioned "g." can be interpreted as “year” and “city” - it all depends on the context. As for examples of abbreviations of words of more than one letter, this is a class (class), a copy (cop., Note that it is not “penny”, as some people think), medical / medical / medical (medical) , mathematical / th / th / math. and the like. As in the case of the city and the year, there are coincidences. So "box." it’s the “box” and the “correspondent,” and “square.” - not only the "apartment", but also the "quarter".
• As for setting points, this is regulated by standard grammar rules. That is, this sign is placed at the end of any abbreviation, except for acronyms (STO - technical service station), units (kg - kilograms), and in the case of applying tension, if the result ends in the same letter as the original (number - quantity, but author-comp. - author-compiler).
  
• In the same root terms with different prefixes, the same number of letters is truncated: cultural - cultures., Intercultural - intercultures., Multicultural - multicultures. Note in this example the abbreviation "cult." will not be true, since there is the likelihood of his misunderstanding, as a "cult".
• When it comes to complex words with several bases or phrases, each of their parts is abbreviated according to standard rules: South Pole - South. pole, forest mechanical - forest. fur. All exceptions are on the list of special cases, for example, as a copyright certificate - author. testimonial.

Features of the reduction of nouns

An attentive person will notice that nouns are reduced much less frequently than adjectives and participles. Moreover, most of the names that can be truncated are compiled into a special list. Many of them are so familiar to us that we do not even pay attention to the fact that we often do not write them in full form.

These are cases such as the “chapter” (chap.), The names of the months (Jan., Feb., Apr., etc.), days of the week (Mon, Tue, Wed, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat , Sun.) and others.

It is important to remember that adjectives formed from such nouns, verbs, passive participles and cognate nouns are reduced in the same way: - journal, journalist, journalistic / s / s.

An exception is those terms that are separately indicated in the above list with another reduction option. For example: a publishing house will be “publishing house”, while “publishing house”, “publishing house” will be “publishing house”, “publishing house”.

Please note that nouns in the list of special cases are not always abbreviated by the rules, the fact is that they are not subject to the principles applicable to other terms.

How to reduce participles and adjectives

These parts of speech are often "cut back" more often, therefore there are more rules for this case than for nouns. Let's find out what they are:

• The participle or adjective is abbreviated equally, regardless of whether they are in full or short: devotee, betrayed, betrayed - before.
• With "truncation", it is necessary to remove as many letters as possible from all possible options: industrial - industrial., Industrial. The last example is more preferable. It is important not to overdo it, otherwise after such an “amputation” the adjective or participle cannot be recognized even taking into account the context. So if you shorten to "ind." there will be problems with its decryption, as there will be confusion with the adjective "individual".
• If the shortest "cut" option can be misunderstood, despite the context, it is preferable to use a more complete form of contraction. For example, the adjective "comic" is best abbreviated as "comic.". After all, "com." - This is a generally accepted variant of the noun “committee”, and it is assigned to it in the list of special cases.
• If double consonants are on the verge of contraction , only one of them remains: phallic - phall., Not phall.
• When there is a soft sign on the border with the “amputated” part, the adjective / participle must end with the previous consonant: free - ox. If the letter "y" is located there - on the contrary, it should be abbreviated according to the subsequent consonant letter - endless - endless.
• If the adjective has one of the following endings: -graphic / -logic / -omic - only-aphic / -ogic / -omic are truncated. For example: genealogical - genealogy.
• In cases where adjectives or participles have one of the endings in the list below, during reduction this part is cut off completely: unlimited - lawlessness., Enchanted - enchantment. etc.
  

When not to cut back

The meaning of the abbreviation of words in Russian or any other is difficult to overestimate, however, there are times when its use is unacceptable.

• In annotations or abstracts.
• In the title, regardless of whether it is primary, parallel, different or alternative.
• In tests or entries that relate to the title or indicate the thematic name of the publisher.
• And the last - if the shortened word or phrase can be misunderstood and entails a distortion of understanding of the whole text.

In conclusion, I would like to add that all the above rules and regulations apply only to official documentation. While in his own records, everyone is free to cut back as he likes. The main thing is that he subsequently could understand what was written earlier.