O ČEZu, UNESCU a Ikee. Psaní iniciálových zkratkových slov a tendence k jejich skloňování

• Authors: Ondřej Dufek

Title variants

EN

On ČEZ, UNESCO and Ikea. The writing of acronyms and the tendency to decline them

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The article is concerned with the graphic aspect of acronym usage in standard written Czech. It focuses on the abbreviations which can be pronounced not only when spelled out, but also as a single unit. The survey examines the competition of various acronyms’ declension forms in particular case positions, both in the case of abbreviations ending with a consonant (type ČEZ) and those ending with a vowel (types UNESCO and IKEA) for which contemporary handbooks and linguistic description allow the addition of case endings only in spoken Czech. The study shows that some types of acronyms also tend to be declined in standard written Czech contexts and analyzes the tension between preserving the abbreviation’s graphic integrity and treating it as an ordinary word written in lower case form. The results lead to the adjustment of some existing statements on acronyms.

Keywords

CS

iniciálová zkratka; iniciálové zkratkové slovo; skloňování; pravopis

EN

initialism; acronym; declension; orthography

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Institute of the Czech Language, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Naše řeč (Our Speech)
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 99
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 256-268
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Ondřej Dufek

• Naše řeč, redakce, Ústav pro jazyk český AV ČR, v.v.i., Letenská 4, 118 51 Praha 1, Czech Republic