Abbreviation, acronym, or emoticon used in the text of a document, possibly including an expansion of the acronym.
Usage: Although an abbreviation is typically a few capitalized letters (“NIH”, “WHO”, “UN”, or “GAO”), emoticons (“;-)”) can also be tagged as abbreviations (“smile-wink”).
Linking: The linking attributes (with the standard XLink attributes) may be used to provide a live link to an expansion, definition, or additional explanation.
Accessibility: Sometimes an <abbrev> needs to be pronounced in a way that is not reflected in its content or its tagging. The @alt attribute can be used to record the pronunciation for screen readers and other accessibility devices. For example, the abbreviation “WHO” might be better pronounced as “World Health Organization” or as “W.H.O.” than as “who”. The @alt attribute can also be used to provide the textual interpretation of a symbol such as an emoticon (for “;-)” use “alt="smile-wink"”).
<!ELEMENT abbrev (#PCDATA %abbrev-elements;)* >
(#PCDATA | email | ext-link | uri | inline-supplementary-material | related-article | related-object | hr | bold | fixed-case | italic | monospace | overline | overline-start | overline-end | roman | sans-serif | sc | strike | underline | underline-start | underline-end | ruby | alternatives | inline-graphic | private-char | chem-struct | inline-formula | tex-math | mml:math | abbrev | index-term | index-term-range-end | milestone-end | milestone-start | named-content | styled-content | fn | target | xref | sub | sup | x | def)*
Any combination of:
<abbrev>, <addr-line>, <aff>, <alt-title>, <anonymous>, <article-title>, <attrib>, <award-id>, <bold>, <book-title>, <book-volume-id>, <book-volume-number>, <chapter-title>, <chem-struct>, <code>, <collab>, <comment>, <compound-kwd-part>, <conf-acronym>, <conf-loc>, <conf-name>, <conf-num>, <conf-sponsor>, <conf-theme>, <copyright-statement>, <corresp>, <def-head>, <degrees>, <disp-formula>, <edition>, <element-citation>, <email>, <etal>, <ext-link>, <fax>, <fixed-case>, <funding-source>, <funding-statement>, <given-names>, <gov>, <inline-formula>, <inline-supplementary-material>, <institution>, <issue>, <issue-part>, <issue-title>, <italic>, <kwd>, <label>, <license-p>, <meta-name>, <meta-value>, <mixed-citation>, <monospace>, <named-content>, <nav-pointer>, <on-behalf-of>, <overline>, <p>, <part-title>, <patent>, <phone>, <prefix>, <preformat>, <product>, <publisher-loc>, <publisher-name>, <related-article>, <related-object>, <role>, <roman>, <sans-serif>, <sc>, <see>, <see-also>, <see-also-entry>, <see-entry>, <self-uri>, <series>, <sig>, <sig-block>, <source>, <speaker>, <std-organization>, <strike>, <string-conf>, <string-date>, <string-name>, <styled-content>, <sub>, <subject>, <subtitle>, <suffix>, <sup>, <supplement>, <surname>, <target>, <td>, <term>, <term-head>, <th>, <title>, <trans-source>, <trans-subtitle>, <trans-title>, <underline>, <unstructured-kwd-group>, <uri>, <verse-line>, <volume>, <volume-id>, <volume-series>, <volume-title>, <xref>
Abbreviations shown with and without alternate text (@alt) attribute indicating pronunciation:
...
<p>The Gene Expression Omnibus (<abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev>)
project was initiated at NCBI in 1999 in response to the growing
demand for a public repository for data generated from
high-throughput microarray experiments. <abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev>
has a flexible and open design that allows the submission, storage,
and retrieval of many types of data sets, such as those from
high-throughput gene expression, genomic hybridization, and
antibody array experiments. <abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev> was
never intended to replace lab-specific gene expression databases or
laboratory information management systems (<abbrev>LIMS</abbrev>),
both of which usually cater to a particular type of data set and
analytical method. ...</p>
...
An emoticon, using the alternate text (@alt) attribute for explanation
...
<p>And I can say without fear of contradiction
<abbrev alt="Wink smile">;)</abbrev> that this
political process is without flaw.</p>
...