اختصارسازي در زبان فارسي

Abbreviation in Modern Persian

The present paper aims to investigate abbreviated forms and the process of abbreviation in Modern Persian; it also looks into the historical development of such word formation process. It will be demonstrated that abbreviation is rule- governed and dates back to Old Persian era. The analysis presented in the article is based on Zipfʹs Law (1949) .Within this approach Zipf introduces the first theoretical model in order to explain the observations and find a mathematical formula for the corresponding function. Zipf and Martinet (1962) believed the Economy/Least Effort Principle(s) govern the behavior of words. The principles indicate the use of frugal means in order to achieve greatest impact in a specified period of time. Abbreviation will be claimed to follow the same principles; that is, there is a reverse correlation between the length of words and the frequency of their application.