ABBREVIATIONS IN THE ENGLISH-BASED TERMINOLOGY OF SPACE EXPLORATION

The article examines systemic-structural characteristics of the abbreviations in the English-based terminology of space exploration. Relevance of the present study is determined by rapid development of the aerospace industry: new terms are invented to name new hardware and software systems, discovered phenomena, new programs, organizations, facilities and documents. Created terms are often long. Thus, abbreviations are coined to shorten them. Abbreviations are omnipresent in the aerospace terminology allowing to save time in communication and space in documents. Currently, the trend of widespread use of abbreviations is observed not only in scientific and technical papers, but also in media discourse. The purpose of this study is to examine structural characteristics, ways of coining and functioning of abbreviations in aerospace discourse. To conduct the research, the author used definitional, structural and statistical methods. It is shown that there are initial abbreviations, acronyms, clippings and blends in the terminology under analysis. The first type prevails; acronyms are also widespread. Some acronyms function as words of scientific and technical language and often become abbreviated in the composition of multicomponent word-combinations. Clippings and blends are also found in the fragment studied in this paper, but their number is insignificant. Abbreviations contribute to professional communication among specialists of the aerospace industry. However, unfamiliarity with abbreviations can become a stumbling block for managers, specialists in other fields or non-specialists as they read and try to understand authentic samples of aerospace discourse.