DAISY—Structure Guidelines: Elements, Inline Elements, Information Object Acronym

Information Object

Acronym

Definition

A word formed from the initial letter or letters of a group of words. For example: UNESCO, NATO, XML, EU, A.D.A., URI, MPEG, SCSI. See also Information Object: Abbreviation.

Markup

In a given language some acronyms are normally pronounced (e.g., UNESCO and NATO in English), while others are spelled out letter by letter (XML, EU, and A.D.A.). Some acronyms are partly spelled and partly pronounced (MPEG). Many braille codes require acronyms to be identified for proper translation. Speech synthesizers may benefit from marking up acronyms as normally pronounced or normally spelled out, in a given language. Use the “pronounce” attribute to identify an acronym as normally pronounced in the language of the target audience (pronounce=”yes”) or not normally pronounced in that language (spelled out instead) (pronounce=”no”). Acronyms that are, in the target language, commonly partially spelled and partially pronounced (MPEG) or pronounced in a way that is not easily derivable from the acronym (SCSI), should be marked as not pronounced (pronounce=”no”). Words which were originally acronyms but have become words in their own right need not be marked (e.g., radar, scuba).

Syntax

<acronym>…</acronym>

Example

<p>Although the passage of the <acronym pronounce="no">A.D.A.</acronym> promised great benefits to disabled Americans, many of those benefits have been slow to materialize in the <acronym pronounce="no">U.S.</acronym></p>

<p>There are those who maintain that the impact of <acronym

pronounce="no">XML</acronym> on the World Wide Web (<acronym

pronounce="no">WWW</acronym>) in comparison with <acronym

pronounce="no">HTML</acronym> will be comparable to the advances in personal computing made possible by the move from <acronympronounce="yes">DOS</acronym> to Windows.</p>