Syllabic Abbreviations (was: Optimum number of symbols)

On Tue, 21 May 2002 21:58:27 -0700 Kendra <kendra@...>
writes:
> I wonder how acronyms work in languages which use syllabic scripts?
> Or do they not at all?
> -Kendra
-

Well, i don't know about real syllabic scripts, but since someone
mentioned how abjads like Arabic and Hebrew can be considered
quasi-syllabic, i'll mention how Hebrew does it.
In Hebrew, you take the first letter of each word (sometimes including
the |h| of the definite article) and string them together into a new
word, using a |"| before the last letter of the abbreviation to mark it
as an acronym.  If it's short enough, it'd just get read as the words,
but if reading it as the words would be too long, vowels (almost always
/a/) are inserted into the acronym where they seem natural.

TN"K /tanax/ = Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim
(Hebrew Bible: Torah, Prophets, Writings)
RMB"M /rambam/ = Rav Moshe Ben Maimon
(Maimonides: Rabbi Moses son of Maimon)
2RH"B /arhav/ = Artzot Ha-Brit
(USA: 'Lands of the Covenant')
RMTtK"L /ramatkal/ = Rosh Mateh Klali
('chief of the general staff'?  head of the Israeli army, i think)
YSh"3 /jeSa/ = Yehuda, Shomron, Aza
(the occupied territories: Judea-Samaria, Gaza)
D"Sh /daS/ = Derishat Shalom
(greeting: 'asking of peace')

Some of them, like RMTtK"L and 2RH"B for whatever reason sometimes use
the first two letters of some of the words.

I took this strategy for Rokbeigalmki, except since Rokbeigalmki is
written completely alphabetically, vowels don't need to be inserted;
instead, the part of each word taken is the beginning of the roots up
until the first vowel:

dzu''fa''ri = |^dzuwaurg^dafal^ri.hlao^semoz-a|
(new year's day: 'festival of the widening of the circle of the sun')
ao''le = |da.aole-a tza'lesnam|
(conlang(ing): 'artistic-creation of languages')


-Stephen (Steg)
 "so now i JUMP over the table again!"