6) ―Brazil Deputy FM kicks off China trip‖ （From China Daily in 11th, Feb, 2010）
FM is foreign minister. Post also can be shortened.
7) ―Fed Advice to A.I.G Scrutinized‖（From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010） Fed means Federal Reserve. A.I.G means American International Group, Inc. which has only one meaning.
8) ―Hopes Dim, G.O.P. Still Vows to Fight Health Bill‖ （From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009）
G.O.P carries the meaning of Grand Old Party.
9) ―N.F.L. Fast Forward: Troubling Detours on the Way to the Playoffs‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009) N.F.L is National Football League naturally.
10) ―Screening: Skipping M.R.I. Tests for Breast Cancer‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009)
M.R.I represents Magnetic resonance imaging. It is a terminology in hospital.
11) ―E.P.A. Seeks Stricter Rules to Curb Smog‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
E.P.A is the abbreviation of Environmental Protection Agency. Although it appears rarely in the news, it is single-meaning.
12) ―Late-Night Shift Sinking, NBC Wants Leno Back in Old Slot‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
NBC means National Broadcasting Company without doubt.
13) ―Murky Trail for ?Loner‘ in Attack on C.I.A‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
CIA replaces Central Intelligence Agency which is widely known to the public. It belongs to the single-meaning feature.
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Some abbreviations are not single-meaning, they share the identical abbreviation but they have two or even more meanings. For example, WTO, it means World Trade Organization and World Tourism Organization. So in this case, editors and reporters should avoid using abbreviation in my opinion. Thus, regulating the standard use of abbreviation in the titles can be seen a very important issue.
Recently, State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) in China have notified CCTV and other media and required anchors and reporters not to use English abbreviations, such as, NBA, F1, GDP, etc. Instead, anchors should speak out their full names in Chinese. Honestly speaking, as a non-sports fan, he may confuse about F1, NBA. At the same time, if you go to village to investigate how common people understand English abbreviations, you may depress again. If the relevant department fails to control the abbreviations well, it will affect the daily life. So, it is quite necessary to standardize English abbreviations. However, screening abbreviations goes to extreme. Audiences will complain the long and trivial phrases and reporters will feel inconvenient. In my opinion, most of the abbreviations used in the media are established by the people through long social practice, it is unwise to forbid the use of them. Forbidding English abbreviations is not a way to protect our mother language and keep our mother language pure, on the contrary, it prevents our language to move ahead and touch the whole world. Our mother language should be tolerant, colorful and embraces other cultures.
4.3 The structures of abbreviation in English news headlines
The structures of abbreviation in English news headlines are various, especially the structures of initialism, acronym and clipping. Initialisms and acronyms are formed by the initial letters of a group of words, such as NBA, FBI and NATO. The following are their different structures:
1) One letter represents a full word. This is the main type. Examples are: CIA= the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S., IOC= International Olympic
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Committee, Nations.
ISBN= International Standard Book Number, RAM=
random-access memory, ROM= read-only memory and UN= the United 2) The letters represent elements in a compound or just part of a word. E.g. ID= Identification (card), SST=supersonic transport, ETV= educational television and TB= tuberculosis
3) A letter represents the complete form of the first (or the first two) words, while the second word (or the third word) is in its complete form. E.g. H-bomb ―hydrogen bomb‖; D-notice (Defense notice) ―official request to news-editors not to publish items on specified subjects, for reasons of security‖; G-man(Government Man) ―an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation‖(American English); V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) ―the day on which the fighting with Japan officially ended in World War II (Aug.15, 1945) or the day the surrender was formerly signed(Sept.2,1945).‖ [4]117-119 More examples are listed in the following:
1) ―U.N. Panel Calls for Court in Guinea Massacre‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009)
U.N. substitutes United Nations. It belongs to the first category.
2) ―G.M. Hires Finance Chief from Microsoft‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009) GM stands for General Motor Corporation
―New Bids Emerge for G.M. ‘s Saab Unit‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
GM is the initialism of General Motor.
It also belongs to the first classification of the structure, i.e. one letter represents a full word.
3) ―National team overcomes decades of ROK hoodoo‖ (Form China Daily in the 11th, Feb, 2010）
ROK reminds readers of Republic of Korea, it belongs to the first classification of the structure—one letter represents a full word.
4) ―NYC: New York Ranks in Last Place in Happiness Rating‖
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(From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009) NYC refers to New York City. As described above. 5) ―Seen: Recalling I.D., a Beacon in Design‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
I.D. means Identification. It belongs to the second classification of the structure—the letters represent elements in a compound or just part of a word.
The structures of clippings are also diversified. Clippings only keep the first several or the middle several or the last several letters of original words, while the rest ones are clipped away. Most of them are often used, so the readers can know the original spelling and understanding them. [13]20 According to Zhang Jian, there are five types of structures as are listed below:
Front clipping: the shortening occurs at the beginning of the word, like bus (from omnibus).
Back clipping: the shortening occurs at the end of the word, e.g. photo (from photograph).
Front and back clipping: the shortening occurs at both ends of the word, a typical example of which is flu (from influenza).
Middle clipping: the shortening occurs at the middle of the word.
Free clipping: the shortening is not strictly in line with a certain rule, such as bike (from bicycle). [7]15
According to my collection, back clipping and middle clipping are largely applied in the news titles.
e.g.: 1) ―Labor Data Show Surge in Hiring of Temp Workers‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009) Temp is the back clipping word of Temporary.
2) ―The Science of Managing Search Ads‖ (From New York Times in 21st, Dec, 2009)
Ads are the middle clipping word of Advertisements.
3) ―Bits: Behind the Warner Bros. and Netflix Accord‖ (From New York Times in 8th, Jan, 2010)
Bros. are the middle clipping word of Brothers.
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