Secondary Uses of Letters in Language

Abstract

In the context of this article the secondary uses of letters are those that involve not the mere recording of pre-existent speech forms, but full participation, as independent ingredients, in a given language. Five such autonomous uses have been set off: (I) the conventional arrangement of letters in standard alphabetic order and the special functions of chosen segments of that sequence; ( 2) all manner of abbreviations (truncation, !iteration, acronyms); ( 3) diverse implications of the shapes of the letters; ( 4) refen':nces- difficult to detect- to the acoustic shapes of the letters; ( 5) hints of the conventional labels given to letters in spelling-out aloud. Special attention has been given to the occasional interplay of these uses, whose frequency seems to advance by leaps and bounds in such societies and cultures as place a premium on " modernity." NOTE: "Secondary Uses of Letters in Language" is being published in two parts. This is the second part; the first appeared in the previous number of this Journal, January !967.