Functions of abbreviation in diary discourse

The article analyses the functions of abbreviation on the material of the diaries of two educated Britons written in the mid-20th century. These are the diaries of George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), a writer, and of Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, a diplomat. Based on the studied material, there have been found and analysed the following functions of abbreviation: the function of symbolization, the function of encryption, the function of linguistic economy, function of indicating familiarity. The diaries manifest these functions of abbreviation clearly due to the special pragmatics of this type of discourse (the focus on capturing real life events, the fact that the author and the reader are the same person, the lack of expressive tools). At the same time other functions such as the function of creating variability in style or the function of creating a comic effect are weakly manifested in these personal diaries. However, the general characteristics of the functions of abbreviation in diary discourse support the conclusions formulated on this issue by scientists from the Department of English Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov Moscow State University.