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The example that I have is from South Africa. Chartered accountants here abbreviate their titles in emails to:

CA(SA)

This is meant to abbreviate "Chartered Accountant (South Africa)". I feel, however, that this may be a mistake that is propagated by a precedent set by other accountants.

Is it not more correct to use a space?

CA (SA)

Orthographically, this seems more consistent to me.

EDIT:

There is no question about spaces in the original phrase: "Chartered Accountant (South Africa)". Instead, the question is about whether parentheses need spaces when the whole phrase is abbreviated.

EDIT 2:

The general question is: How does a bracket, preceded by a space, compile to an abbreviation? When the phrase in question refers to a named entity it seems like common courtesy is to use whichever style the entity itself prefers.

mikorym
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    Does it really matter? And if so, why? – BillJ Oct 19 '18 at 16:21
  • I am not sure what constitutes whether something matters, but I prefer there to be a correct way, even if multiple options are correct. – mikorym Oct 20 '18 at 17:09
  • But from functional point of view, all South African accountants sign their emails with "CA(SA)" so it is a abbreviation in common circulation. Commonly used language usually appears in style guides with recommendations; however, in this case I have not seen any linguistic recommendations. Specifically, I am curious about how a phrase containing parentheses compiles to an abbreviation. – mikorym Oct 20 '18 at 17:16
  • Possible duplicate of Do parentheses need spaces either side? – Jason Bassford Oct 20 '18 at 17:26
  • The difference here is that the whole of "CA(SA)" / "CA (SA)" is an abbreviation. However, your link does explain why I prefer there to always be spaces before an opening parenthesis. – mikorym Oct 20 '18 at 17:30
  • Style rules depend on organizations. If that is what they use, there is no reason to object. The only "style guide" here would have to come from some South African accounting trade organization. – Lambie Nov 19 '18 at 19:15
  • Thanks, I think this is the conclusion from the discussion. The only remaining question is: What would the rule be if it were a neutral phrase? It doesn't seem like we can find examples so far that are neutral in the sense that they are not linked to an entity's identity. – mikorym Nov 21 '18 at 13:24
  • @mikorym Without a precedent of "this is how we write our abbreviation", I would go with: in the expansion, there's a space between Chartered and Accountant, but there's no space between C and A. Therefore, although there's a space before (South Africa), there should be no space before (SA). A space before parenthesis is correct in "normal writing" (and for both examples on the reference Jason linked), but not, IMHO, within an acronym/initialism. – TripeHound Nov 21 '18 at 14:48
  • Found some (at last). Wikipedia, and it's likely they're reproducing accurately, uses no spaces in say << ASD(C3I), ASD(FMP), ASD(HA) ... ASD(S&TR) >>. You can look through initialisms etc beginning with B, C, D ... yourself.. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 19 '19 at 13:57

2 Answers2

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Since the parenthetical part is inalienable from the non-parenthetical part when written out in full, the abbreviation without space is correct, in the sense of what conveys the most accurate impression to a native English reader.

The alternative that separates the parenthetical with a space, CA (SA), makes it appear to have two parts, the second being optional. Since the parenthetical is a non-optional part of the professional designation, the presence of a space gives the wrong impression.

Parentheses in an abbreviation do look odd to some English speakers, and a reasonable alternative would be CASA; however, that much of a rewrite of the profession’s own chosen abbreviation of their designation feels like a clear overreach by native English outsiders.

Hence, CA(SA) conveys the most accurate understanding of what it abbreviates: an abbreviated proper name with a parenthetical that is an integral part of the designation.

(It’s worth noting that I am including South Africa when I mention native English speakers above.)

Robin
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    Thanks. Your argument about the appearance of something being optional is, I think, an overriding consideration. Abbreviations are perhaps inherently exactly about impressions to the reader. – mikorym Jan 08 '20 at 13:58
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The first thing to consider is that we all have a right to our name, and second we need to understand the original concept and needs of the users.

While I was at university, a student living next door had his name changed by deed poll to 'Dill the dog'. This was his right, and if I had told he was wrong then I would have been in the wrong.

Chartered accountants deal with a lot of data, which often ends up being squeezed into innumerable tables, so they have a tendency to choose concise acronyms and titling.

I cannot access the SAICA page at the moment, but I can see that the Wikipedia page uses CA(SA) and the plural CAs(SA), and that it is used to express their qualification of chartered accountant. Wikipedia

Trevor Christopher Butcher
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    Thanks for your input. I understand that when referring to a name, correctness is more subtle. But in general, are there style guidelines for a phrase that contains parentheses? – mikorym Oct 20 '18 at 17:17
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    @mikorym There are so many different style guidelines for different publications that that is an impossible Q. to answer. As regards comments about a space before the brackets, if you followed that to its logical conclusion, you would have to write "C A (S A)" because there are spaces between all the words in the original. Why put spaces before the brackets, but not before the individual word contractions? – TrevorD Apr 21 '19 at 13:38