CSF, NCSF. ROMANIAN ABBREVIATIONS IN ONLINE COMMUNICATION: EMERGING PATTERNS

Abstract

In Romanian, clippings (i.e. abbreviations of single words) and initialisms (i.e. reductions of multi-word units to their initials) constitute minor word-formation patterns that became increasingly productive in the 20th century. Abbreviation normally creates words belonging to nominal classes, i.e. nouns, adjectives, and numerals. However, the advent of online communication has brought about several new abbreviation patterns.
Pitiriciu (2010) and Tăbăcitu (2022) have shown two main innovations: the clipping of verbs (e.g. plicti < a se plictisi) and consonant-based graphical abbreviations (e.g. mn = mine). In order to explore the patterns occurring in online communication, we analysed a corpus of comments published in two Romanian Reddit communities in the time span 2021-2024.
Besides the already established types of clippings and initialisms, we observed several patterns which are specific to online communication. Among these, a new type of initialism stands out, represented by csf (< ce să faci? ‘what can you do?’) and csz (< ce să zic? ‘what can I say?’), based on verb phrases, used both in verb slots and as discourse markers. Our study explores the forms and functions of these abbreviations, which are part of a bidirectional exchange of verbal resources between the oral and the online domains of interaction. The two habitual dialogic phrases (Ce să faci? Ce să zic?) initially circulated in casual or informal talk, and were abbreviated in the digital environment, where they became clichés. Nowadays, csf occasionally occurs in spoken language as well. Our exploratory study suggests that the lexical resources of forum users are collectively modified to fully satisfy their communicative needs, considering the affordances and limitations of online interaction, leading to the emergence of new abbreviation patterns in Romanian.