JakeL wrote:I have seen people shorten words like Möchengladbach = M'gladbach.. Is this valid syntax?
If yes, are there any rules?
(1) Yes and (2) yes, but not really.
Let's delve into the Official Rules as published by the Council for German Orthography.
Specifically, we are looking into Chapter E (Interpunctuation), Section 4 (Indications of Omission), Sub-section 1 (Apostrophe), Rule §96.
Section 4.1, Rule §96 states:
- Apostrophe is used to indicate that one or more letters have been omitted from a word.
- There are three groups of cases in which an apostrophe is used.
- ...
- ...
- Words with omissions in their interior, such as
D’dorf (= Düsseldorf), M’gladbach (= Mönchengladbach), Ku’damm (= Kurfürstendamm)
[Translation is my own.]
I have not quoted groups 1 and 2 but, lo and behold, your example in in the official rules. So in plain English the rule says, you can omit letters from the middle of a word and indicate it using an apostrophe. And which letters you leave out
is up to you!
So technically there is nothing in the rules that prohibits you from writing M'ch, Mön'bach, etc. However, we typically follow the pattern in the rule above; meaning, first or first few letters, and last syllable(s). I would also add that omissions in this manner are rather infrequent.
Sonjaconjota wrote:I have to say that the way of writing an abbreviation with an apostrophe was completely new to me, but I have found "Dü'dorf" more often online than "Düdorf" or "Dü-dorf", so it seems to be a thing.
I think you're selling yourself a bit short here. If you look into the rules, you will find examples that I'm certain you're familiar with.
in wen’gen Augenblicken
’s ist schade um ihn
das Wasser rauscht’
der Käpt’n
mit’m Fahrrad
Bitte, nehmen S’ (= Sie) doch Platz!
Das war ’n (= ein) Bombenerfolg!
Council for German Orthography:
http://www.rechtschreibrat.com/Orthography:
https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/rechtschreibungSection 4.1:
https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/rechtschreibung/6208#