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The vocative case is the Case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence. For example, in the sentence, "I don't know, John.", ''John'' is a vocative expression indicating the party who is being addressed. Historically, the vocative case was an element of the Indo-European system of cases, and existed in Latin , Sanskrit , and Classical Greek . Although it has been lost by many modern Indoeuropean languages, some languages have retained the vocative case to this day. Examples are Modern Greek and Slavic Languages such as Polish , Czech , Serbian , Croatian , Bosnian , Ukrainian , Bulgarian , and the modern Celtic Languages such as Scottish Gaelic and Irish . Among the Romance Languages the vocative was preserved in Romanian . It also occurs in some non-Indoeuropean languages, such as Georgian , Arabic , Chinese and Korean . THE VOCATIVE CASE IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES Latin In Latin the vocative case of a noun is the same as the Nominative , except for masculine singular second declension nouns that have the endings ''-us'' or ''-ius'' in the nominative case. An example would be the famous line from Shakespeare, "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", commonly translated as "You too, Brutus?"), where ''Brut''e is the vocative case, whilst ''Brut'''''us''' would be the Nominative Case . When "-ius" nouns are put into the vocative, however, they lose this ending and replace it with a "ī". Therefore, "Julius" becomes "Julī". When Latin names in the vocative case are translated into English , the nominative case is usually used, as English simply uses the Nominative Case for vocative expressions but sets them off from the rest of the sentences with pauses as interjections (rendered in writing as commas) (see below). Four historical Indoeuropean languages Take, for example, the word for "wolf": Notes on notation: The elements separated with hyphens denote the stem, the so-called theme vowel of the case and the actual suffix. The symbol "Ø" means that there is no suffix in a place where other cases may have one. In Latin, e.g., the nominative case is ''lupu''s and the vocative case is ''lupe!'', whereas the accusative case is ''lupu'''''m'''. The asterisk in front of the Indoeuropean words means that they are merely hypothetical reconstructions, not based on any written sources. Polish In Polish, unlike in Latin, the vocative (''wołacz'') is almost always different from the Nominative Case and is formed according to a complex grammatical pattern. Here are some examples. In informal speech, the Nominative is increasingly used in place of the vocative, but this is regarded as a bad style in any formal situation. Vocative-like expressions in English In English the vocative case is not marked, but English syntax performs a similar function; witness: "John, could you come here?" or "I don't think so, John", where "John" is neither subject nor object of the verb, but rather indicates the person to whom the statement is being addressed. Other examples for vocative markers are ''O Death, where is thy victory'', or ''Hey, you!''. These vocative expressions are usually classified as Interjection s and can occur in any clause, irrespective of mood. Some examples:
However, many English speakers continue to distinguish between interjection and direct address in both prayers and songs of worship, for example: ''Oh save me for your mercies' sake, O Lord!'' The place in English where a vocative construction is most notable is in certain titles. For instance, I might ask "Who is that lady?", but (unless the lady in question happens to own a brothel) I would not ask "Who is that madam?". When addressing her directly the words reverse. I would say "Pardon me madam" and not "Hey Lady". Other examples are: "Who is that man/gentleman?" but "Pardon me sir" not "Pardon me gentleman". "This is the honorable Judge Smith" but "Pleased to meet you your honor" not "Pleased to meet you honorable". "May I present his majesty" but "It's an honor your majesty" not "it's an honor his majesty". "That's the Pope" but "O your holiness" not "O Pope". Certain vocative forms have begun to change in recent years. Three of these are reverend and dad & mom. Traditionally "the reverend" was a title just like "the honorable". No one would walk up to a judge and say "hey honorable". The proper term is "your honor". A typical pastor is humble and unlikely to want to be called "your reverence". So it was once customary to call ministers simply "Mister" or perhaps "Pastor". Over the years though, "reverend" has become a term of address as well as reference. On the other hand, Mom and Dad or Pop were once reserved solely for address. I might say "Daddy, I want you to meet my friend" but I would then say "This is my Father", not "This is my Daddy". These uses have changed over the years and many young people will use Mom and Dad as a title of reference as well as of address. President Bush even referred to "the moms and dads of service men and women" in a speech he gave in 2005. Russian Archaisms In Russian the vocative case is an obsolete feature, preserved only in certain cases of archaic usage.
Therefore, most linguists consider Russian no longer to have a vocative case. Vocative-like expressions Nevertheless, Russian has vocative-like expressions, the syntax and usage being basically the same as described in the English language section. Abridged names Colloquial Russian has a form of Given Names which some linguists consider to be a reemerging vocative case. It is applicable only to given names that end in a Vowel when used in a vocative-like expression: ''"Len, gde ty?"'' ("Lena, where are you?") This is basically equivalent to ''"Lena, gde ty?"'', the only difference being that the former version suggests a positive personal, emotional bond between the speaker and the person being addressed. This example, as well as the fact that this form is not genetically related to the archaic vocative (which would be ''"Leno"'' in this example), leads other linguists to believe that this form is not the vocative case. Georgian In Georgian, the vocative case is used for addressing the second singular and plural persons. For the word roots ending with a consonant, the vocative case suffix is -''o'', and for the words ending with a vowel, there is no suffix for the vocative case (the suffix used to be -''v'' in old Georgian, but is now considered archaic). For example, ''kats-'' is the root for the word "man." If one addresses someone with this word, it becomes, ''katso''! Adjectives are also declined in the vocative case. Just like nouns, consonant final stem adjectives take the suffix -''o'' in the vocative case, and the vowel final stems are not changed. Compare: lamazi kali lamazo kalo! In the second phrase, both the adjective and the noun are declined. The second singular and plural personal pronouns are also declined in the vocative case. ''Shen'' you(singular) and ''tkven'' you (plural) in the vocative case become, ''she!'' and ''tkve!'', with the drop of the final -''n''. Therefore one could, for instance, say, ''She lamazo kalo!'' "you beautiful woman!" with the declination of all the elements. Romanian The vocative case in Romanian is inherited from Latin . Morphologically it is formed using specific endings, occasionally causing other morphophonemic changes (see also the article on Romanian Nouns ):
More often than not the vocative simply copies the nominative/accusative form, even when it does have its own. This happens because the vocative is often perceived as very direct and thus can seem rude. Chinese In Chinese, the vocative is used with name, kinship term or even positional title in casual situations. This is done by prefix 阿 (''a''), it is interchageable with 亞 in Cantonese . The use of vocatives is commonly found in Cantonese dialects. For example:
Korean (Altaic) The vocative case in Korean is used only with first names in casual situations. This is done by suffixing 아 (''a'') if the name ends in a consonant and 야 (''ya'') if in a vowel: 미진은 집에 가겠어? (Mijin-eun chibe kagesseo?) "Is Mijin going home?" 미진아, 집에 가겠어? (Mijin-'''a''', chibe kagesseo?) "Mijin, are you going home? 동배 머 해? (Dongbae meo hae?) What is Dongbae doing? 동배야, 머 해? (Dongbae-'''ya''', meo hae?) "Dongbae, what are you doing? |