Gramar Term

What is the term for a group of letters that when spoken make a word or phrase. For example:

MT "empty"
CU "see you"
EZ "easy"

I know there is a term for this, but simply can't remember.

[Francois]

text speak?

FRC

[shane]

Laziness? ;)

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

What is the term for a group of letters that when spoken make a word or phrase. For example:

MT "empty"
CU "see you"
EZ "easy"

I know there is a term for this, but simply can't remember.

They're a type of homophony. I say "type of" because given the current definition of homophone (i.e., "Words[color]"[/color] that sound the same but are spelled differently: Word = Word: Bear = bare, sea = see), Net Shorthand symbols: M (em), T(ty), C (see), U (you), E (ea), Z (zy) are not words; they are letters. That is, M (em) is not a word, but if we add T (ty) we get a word: MT, which is homophonous with empty: MT = empty. They are two words that sound the same but are spelled differently. :D

By the way, Net Shorthand, which uses the sound of letters and numbers to signify words (e.g., mt = empty; f/x = effects; Cu = see you; EZ = easy; 4u = for you; etc.) has no official linguistic name yet.

Acronyms & Abbreviations
CU could be considered an acronym because each letter represent a word in a phrase (i.e., C (see) U (you)), but it's not an acronym because 'See you is not a name--it's a verb phrase.

MT can't be considered an acronym because it represent one word. And MT can't be considered as an abbreviation either because abbreviations are formed using the first letter of the word (i.e., abbreviation = abbrev.), not using word-medial letters (e.g., emty). Moreover, M of MT stands for the letter combination "em", which in linguistics is called, homophony (i.e., P/pea; O/Oh/; em/M; en/N; T/tea).

EZ represent one word, so it's not an acronym. EZ can't be an abbreviation because "Z" is not found in 'easy'. EZ is a type of homophony: E (ea) and Z (sy). Note that, homophones don't have to share the same spelling, so Z = sy is still homophony.

All the best, :D