Revisiting the Formation Process of Acronyms: Focusing on ACE-Type Acronyms

This study revisits the formation process of acronyms, and examines ACE-type Sino-Korean acronyms (derived from expressions structured AB CDE). The formation of these acronyms involves the process of “selection + combination.” The “selection” phase is divided into “Selection[word]” and “Selection[syllable].” The former entails selecting essential words from the entire original expression, while the latter identifies representative syllables within each selected word. The “combination” phase then involves merging the selected syllables to form a new word, which retains the original meaning but adopts a different form. When the original expression is a predicate phrase, this combination process may induce a limited nominal shift, bearing some similarity to derivation. Thus, the additional selection of “C” in the ACE-type acronyms can be explained by the following factors: (1) to avoid blocking by preexisting two-syllable Sino-Korean words, and (2) to ensure a clear recognition of the Sino-Korean suffixal “E.”