International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 10, No. 1; 2020

6. Conclusion 
Thus, in the course of the analysis it has been clearly shown that abbreviated forms creation in the English 
language can be regarded as an extensive dynamic process closely connected with the society need for 
optimization in terms of information transfer. Functional and semantic properties of abbreviations though 
discussed in a number of scientific disquisitions have not so far received all the attention they deserve, so we 
were trying to make the attempt to describe and analyse the semantic and functional properties of abbreviations 
both at the levels of language system and actual speech reality. 
The units in question being designed in accordance with the linguistic norm and regularities of language 
demonstrate the abilities to be constructed on the basis of certain traditional structural models that may comprise 
both letters and sometimes figures combined with letters, as well as syllables and initial parts of the words 
contracted, to present the meaning of the prototype structure in the compressive way. As has been mentioned 
above, the process of abbreviation is determined by the principle of linguistic economy manifestation. Thus, the 
polycode nature of some abbreviations serves to optimize the process of information transfer. 
The next important issue that should be mentioned is that abbreviation is a kind of ongoing process that 
constantly takes place in the reality and can be characterized by certain phases and bursts under the influence of 
various circumstances of linguistic and extralinguistic nature. As David Crystal writes, “The fashionable use of 
abbreviation—a kind of society slang—comes and goes in waves, though it is never totally absent. In the present 
century, however, it has been eclipsed by the emergence of abbreviations in science, technology, and other 
special fields, such as cricket, baseball, drug trafficking, the armed forces and the media” (Crystal, 2003, p. 120). 
Abbreviated forms functioning in language possess linguistic properties of words and in the course of time may 
acquire their own lexical phraseological and morphological syntactic peculiarities due to their semantic 
independence and manifest linguistic peculiarities different from those of the prototype. This mostly lies within 
the sphere of discourse where abbreviations abundantly used subject to various influences of linguistic and 
extralinguistic character.
From the cognitive point of view abbreviations in terms of their creating and functioning refer to propositions, 
which concern with the process of codification and preservation at the mental level. Otherwise stated, 
propositions may be regarded as the mental structural basis of the abbreviation process determined by the nature 
of its prototype reference to the onomasiological model chosen for the contracted form creation. As for the 
cognitive communicative approach to abbreviation, it should be mentioned that creating and decoding 
abbreviation forms various types and formats of knowledge are included into the processes of speech production 
and speech perception as well as understanding and interpretation. As has been clearly shown above, the process 
of understanding the meaning of a unit in question refers to the background knowledge issue, that is knowledge 
shared by the representatives of a certain linguistic cultural or professional community. 
In some cases, abbreviation due to its formal characteristics may stand very close to symbol, which demonstrates 
close interaction of different semiotic systems within language functioning taking into consideration both content 
and expression planes. At the same time very much depends on the context of abbreviations functioning in the 
actual speech reality, especially when concerned with homonymic or homographic contracted forms. This area of 
the research comprises various types of context, including cognitive context parameters, that stand close to the 
background knowledge issue. 
The discursive approach to abbreviation analysis makes it possible to study new aspects of creation and 
functioning of abbreviations from the point of view of their realization in different varieties of English discourse. 

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Vol. 10, No. 1; 2020 
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As has been shown above, both linguistic and extralinguistic factors should be taken into account, as well as 
situations, which stand apart from abbreviation employment for some extralinguistic reasons.
The analysis of abbreviation process within the political, business and public relations areas referring to the 
respective discourse varieties has shown that in all the spheres mentioned certain types of abbreviations are used 
to transfer information in the most precise way. It should be mentioned within these lines that one may come 
across the same abbreviations used in different discursive varieties thus being the sign marker of interdiscursivity. 
It is also important to note the diversity and rapid entry of certain abbreviation forms and models into the 
language, often used in the types of discourse under analysis and acquired the character of stable language 
expressions. They do not cause problems in their decoding and are also characterized by automatism being used 
by the linguistic cultural community representatives, thus facilitating communication process. Otherwise stated, 
the integrated approach that includes a number of methods appropriate for abbreviated forms investigation seems 
to be the most appropriate.