Declension of Acronyms in Written and Spoken Russian

[John Dunn]

I think this is an area where custom, practice and even individual preference are more important than any general rule.  What can, I think, be stated is that there is a tendency for those acronyms that can be read as masculine nouns to switch (where relevant) to masculine gender and to become declinable, but that this general tendency will be reflected differently in the individual acronyms.   Thus, ТАСС became masculine (ТАСС уполмочен заявить), but, as Richard Robin pointed out, is usually not declined; МИД sometimes declines, and ВУЗ/вуз almost always declines.  The last belongs, I would suggest, to a group of acronyms that are in common use, but rarely expanded, and which are in consequence gradually losing their distinct grammatical status as acronyms.   Others might be ЗАГС (and its more recent homophone ЗакС*), ЖЭК, СПИД, though I would not claim that this category is watertight.

John Dunn.

*Законодательное собрание.  This was presumably coined as an intentional homophone.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Katie Janicka [kjanicka at BRYNMAWR.EDU]
Sent: 19 October 2010 02:17
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Declension of Acronyms in Written and Spoken Russian

Hi Tony,

Terence Wade's Comprehensive Russian Grammar has a section on declension of alphabetisms (and an interesting, and related, section on gender of acronyms and alphabetisms).

In a nutshell:

1. Only those alphabetisms decline which are masculine and have the form of first-declension nouns ending in a consonant (долг ВАЗа, риск заразиться СПИДом).

2. Other alphabetisms are not declined.

Notes:
ГЭС (гидроэлектростанция), ООН (UNO) - are of feminine gender and undeclined
ВИЧ (HIV) - is an example of a new form at present undeclined
ЖЭК (жилищно-эксплуатационная контора), МИД (Министерство иностранных дел) - are either left undeclined or (in colloquial styles) are declined

Best,
Katie

Katie M. Janicka
Doctoral Student
Bryn Mawr College

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------