Semantics and decoding of five Spanish acronyms

This paper presents the results obtained from a theoretical-practical research, in which the definition of the concept of "acronym" was discussed, as well as its characterization, thus proposing its own conceptualization. In addition, an analysis of the semantic perception of five Spanish acronyms found in different linguistic contexts (digital media, social networks, spontaneous conversation) is presented, carried out by 25 native Spanish-speaking collaborators between 16 and over 56 years of age in Latin America: basuraleza, cafebrería, ciudadaños, cubatón and raterinaria. Data collection was carried out through the design and online application of a survey, using the Google Drive Forms platform. The objective of the research was to explore and explain the process of decoding the meaning of these acronyms, in order to identify the level of meaning recognition and the semantic variety that the collaborators attributed to each acronym.