MODERN ENGLISH MILITARY SHORTENINGS: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The article deals with structural and semantic characteristics of modern English military shortenings. The research is based on analysis the ways of formation and functioning of new English military shortenings. The shortenings are to be considered the major part of innovations of English military vocabulary, they should be considered and represent as active means of new coinages. As the result of typological classification of shortening they are dividing into subgroups. The author highlights the main types of shortenings, according to their graphical and lexical parameters. They are abbreviations: (DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office), FCS (Future Combat System), UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), 4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare)); acronyms: (BASE (British Aerospace Systems and Equipment), ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour)); blending: (infartillery (infantery+artillery), militainment (military+entertainment), lawfare (law+warfare), bioterrorism (biological+terrorism), psywar (psychological+ warfare)); clipping and сontractation: (muj (mujahideen), weaps (weapons), COMSEC (Communications Security), OPSEC (Operational Security), USCENTCOM (The United States Central Command)). Abbreviation is the result of the process of formation of new mean of the secondary nomination. The principle of language economy presupposes the active role of abbreviations. Abbreviations have been divided into two subtypes: initial abbreviations and acronyms. The creation of shortenings is to be observed on lexical level, while the formation of abbreviations is observed on syntactical level. The author defines blending as one of the form of shortening, which consists of one or two parts of clipping words. The blending has been divided into two types, according to their components. The common type of modern English military shortenings is initial abbreviation; which reflects the meaning of syntactical unit. The analogy plays important role in the process of coining new English military shortenings. The development and enrichment of military vocabulary can be considered to be the result of rationalization of the language activities and optimization of the language forming processes.