FITNESS ABBREVIATIONS AND BLENDS AND PECULIARITIES OF THEIR TRANSALTION IN UKRAINIAN

Abstract

This article is devoted to the problem of clippings and abbreviations of fitness terms and ways of their translation into Ukrainian. The relevance of the research is justified by rapid development of terminology in the sphere of fitness and the lack of thorough study on the problem of their classification, standardization and translation into Ukrainian. The article considers linguistic and extralinguistic factors that contribute to a significant increase in the formation of new abbreviations and acronyms. The analysis of terms under study showed that more than half of them are presented by abbreviations, and telescope-words constitute only a small part. The following main types of term abbreviations have been identified and described as follows: alphabetisms, sound (acronyms), symbols: (consisting of letters or syllables and numbers) and acronym-initialism hybrids: (one of the elements is a letter (letters), the other is a whole word). According to the results of the research, alphabetisms are the most productive ones and can completely replace term-phrases in LSP texts in course of time. The highest frequency of functioning of abbreviations in LSP texts falls on the terms which are used to denote the key concepts of fitness. As one of the term requirements is its brevity, so many terms are subject to the process of shortening. It is also noted that the number of components in alphabetisms may vary from two to five letters. The most frequent ones are twoand three-component structures. The analysis of the empirical material has shown that a number of strategies are employed by translators to ensure effective and efficient translation of abbreviations in Ukrainian. Consequently, a translator should have relevant knowledge in the field of science in which the term functions to adequately convey it in Ukrainian. In most cases, the abbreviation is translated in Ukrainian using the full form of the word or the corresponding term-phrase, translation of the abbreviation with an equivalent Ukrainian abbreviation, borrowing of foreign abbreviations with Latin spelling, descriptive translation or creating a new Ukrainian abbreviation. In addition, a translator should define the full form of the abbreviated term in the source language, using specialised dictionaries or context.