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In
grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
, the vocative case (
abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...
) is a
grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
which is used for a
noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...
that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (
determiner Determiner, also called determinative ( abbreviated ), is a term used in some models of grammatical description to describe a word or affix belonging to a class of noun modifiers. A determiner combines with a noun to express its reference. Examp ...
s,
adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...
s,
participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
s, and numerals) of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address by which the identity of the party spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence. For example, in the sentence "I don't know, John," ''John'' is a vocative expression that indicates the party being addressed, as opposed to the sentence "I don't know John", in which "John" is the direct object of the verb "know". Historically, the vocative case was an element of the Indo-European case system and existed in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
. In many modern Indo-European languages (English, Spanish, etc.) the vocative case has been absorbed by the nominative, but others still distinguish it, including the
Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people
, some
Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yve ...
and most
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
. Some linguists, such as , argue that the vocative form is not a case but a special form of nouns not belonging to any case, as vocative expressions are not related syntactically to other words in sentences.''Реформатский А. А.'' Введение в языковедение / Под ред. В. А. Виноградова. — М.: Аспект Пресс. 1998. С. 488.
Pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...
usually lack vocative forms.


Indo-European languages


Comparison

Distinct vocative forms are assumed to have existed in all early
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
and survive in some. Here is, for example, the Indo-European word for "wolf" in various languages: The elements separated with hyphens denote the stem, the so-called thematic vowel of the case and the actual suffix. In Latin, for example, the nominative case is and the vocative case is , but the accusative case is . The asterisks before the Proto-Indo-European words means that they are theoretical reconstructions and are not attested in a written source. The symbol ◌̩ (vertical line below) indicates a consonant serving as a vowel (it should appear directly below the "l" or "r" in these examples but may appear after them on some systems from issues of font display). All final consonants were lost in Proto-Slavic, so both the nominative and vocative Old Church Slavonic forms do not have true endings, only reflexes of the old thematic vowels. The vocative ending changes the stem consonant in Old Church Slavonic because of the so-called First Palatalization. Most modern Slavic languages that retain the vocative case have altered the ending to avoid the change: Bulgarian occurs far more frequently than .


Baltic languages


Lithuanian

The vocative is distinct in singular and identical to the nominative in the plural, for all inflected nouns. Nouns with a nominative singular ending in ''-a'' have a vocative singular usually identically written but distinct in accentuation. In Lithuanian, the form that a given noun takes depends on its declension class and, sometimes, on its gender. There have been several changes in history, the last being the ''-ai'' ending formed between the 18th and 19th centuries. The older forms are listed under "other forms". Some nouns of the e- and a- stems declensions (both proper ones and not) are stressed differently: "aikštė": "aikšte!" (''square''); "tauta": "tauta!". In addition, nouns of e-stems have an ablaut of long vowel ė in nominative and short vowel e in vocative. In pronunciation, ė is
close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel (also mid-close vowel, high-mid vowel, mid-high vowel or half-close vowel) is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned about ...
, and e is open-mid vowel . The vocative of diminutive nouns with the suffix ''-(i)ukas'' most frequently has no ending: ''broliùk'' "brother!", etc. A less frequent alternative is the ending ''-ai'', which is also slightly dialectal: ''broliùkai'', etc. Colloquially, some personal names with a masculine ''-(i)(j)o'' stem and diminutives with the suffixes ''-elis, -ėlis'' have an alternative vocative singular form characterized by a zero ending (i.e. the stem alone acts as the voc. sg.): ''Adõm'' "Adam!" in addition to ''Adõmai'', ''Mýkol'' "Michael!" in addition to ''Mýkolai'', ''vaikẽl'' "kid!" in addition to ''vaikẽli'', etc.


Celtic languages


Goidelic languages


=Irish

= The vocative case in Irish operates in a similar fashion to Scottish Gaelic. The principal marker is the vocative particle , which causes
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
of the following initial letter. In the singular there is no special form, except for first declension nouns. These are masculine nouns that end in a broad (non-palatal) consonant, which is made slender (palatal) to build the singular vocative (as well as the singular genitive and plural nominative). Adjectives are also lenited. In many cases this means that (in the singular) masculine vocative expressions resemble the
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...
and feminine vocative expressions resemble the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
. The vocative plural is usually the same as the nominative plural except, again, for first declension nouns. In the standard language first declension nouns show the vocative plural by adding . In the spoken dialects the vocative plural is often has the same form as the nominative plural (as with the nouns of other declensions) or the dative plural (e.g. = Men!)


=Scottish Gaelic

= The vocative case in
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
follows the same basic pattern as Irish. The vocative case causes
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
of the initial consonant of nouns. Lenition changes the initial sound of the word (or name). In addition, masculine nouns are slenderized if possible (that is, in writing, an 'i' is inserted before the final consonant) This also changes the pronunciation of the word. Also, the particle is placed before the noun unless it begins with a vowel (or f followed immediately by a vowel, which becomes silent when lenited). Examples of the use of the vocative personal names (as in Irish): The name "Hamish" is just the English spelling of (the vocative of and pronounced ), and thus is actually a Gaelic vocative. Likewise, the name "Vairi" is an English spelling of , the vocative for .


=Manx

= The basic pattern is similar to Irish and Scottish. The vocative is confined to personal names, in which it is common. Foreign names (not of Manx origin) are not used in the vocative. The vocative case causes
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
of the initial consonant of names. It can be used with the particle "". The name is actually the Manx vocative of (Mary).


Brythonic languages


=Welsh

= Welsh lacks case declension but marks vocative constructions by lenition of the initial consonant of the word, with no obligatory particle. Despite its use being less common, it is still used in formal address: the common phrase means "gentlemen and ladies", with the initial consonant of undergoing a soft mutation; the same is true of (" earfriends") in which has been lenited. It is often used to draw attention to at public notices orally and written – teachers will say "" (mutation of ) and signage such as one right show mutation of to draw attention to the importance of the notice.


Germanic languages


English

The vocative is not a grammatical case in English. Expressions for which the vocative would be used in languages which have that case, are nominative in English. In translations of languages that use the vocative case, translators have added the
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
"O" before the noun, as is often seen in the
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...
of the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
: for example the Greek ''ὀλιγόπιστοι'', vocative masculine plural, (in Matthew 8:26) is translated "O ye of little faith". While it is not strictly archaic, it is sometimes used to "archaeise" speech; it is often seen as very formal, and sees use in rhetoric and poetry, or as a comedic device to subvert modern speech. Another example is the recurrent use of the phrase "O (my) Best Beloved" by
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
in his '' Just So Stories''. The use of ''O'' may be considered a form of
clitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic ( , backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a ...
and should not be confused with the interjection ''oh''. However, as the
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
points out, "O" and "oh" were originally used interchangeably. Modern English commonly uses the objective case for vocative expressions but sets them off from the rest of the sentences with pauses as interjections, rendered in writing as commas (the vocative comma). Two common examples of vocative expressions in English are the phrases "Mr. President" and "Madam Chairwoman". Some traditional texts use ''Jesu'', the Latin vocative form of ''Jesus''. One of the best-known examples is '' Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring''.


German dialects

In some
German dialects German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant s ...
, like the Ripuarian dialect of
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, it is common to use the (gender-appropriate) article before a person's name. In the vocative phrase then the article is, as in Venetian and Catalan, omitted. Thus, the determiner precedes nouns in all cases except the vocative. Any noun not preceded by an article or other determiner is in the vocative case. It is most often used to address someone or some group of living beings, usually in conjunction with an imperative construct. It can also be used to address dead matter as if the matter could react or to tell something astonishing or just happening such as "Your nose is dripping." Colognian examples:


Icelandic

The vocative case generally does not appear in Icelandic, but a few words retain an archaic vocative declension from Latin, such as the word , which is in the vocative. That comes from Latin, as the Latin for Jesus in the nominative is and its vocative is . That is also the case in traditional English (without the accent) (see above): The native words and also sometimes appear in the shortened forms and in vocative phrases. Additionally, adjectives in vocative phrases are always weakly declined, but elsewhere with proper nouns, they would usually be declined strongly:


Norwegian

Nouns in Norwegian are not inflected for the vocative case, but adjectives qualifying those nouns are; adjectival adjuncts modifying vocative nouns are inflected for the definite (see: Norwegian language#Adjectives). The definite and plural inflections are in most cases identical, so it is more easily observable with adjectives that inflect for plural and definite differently, e.g. being when definite, but when plural, an instance of suppletion. In several Norwegian dialects, north of an
isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss, is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistics, linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Isoglosses are a ...
running from
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
to
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
,
name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...
s in
argument An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
position are associated with proprial articles, e.g. gendered
pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...
s such as or , which either precede or follow the noun in question. This is not the case when in vocative constructions.


Greek

In
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
, the vocative case is usually identical to the nominative case, with the exception of first-declension masculine nouns (ending in -ας or -ης), second-declension non-neuter nouns (ending in -ος) and third-declension non-neuter nouns. In the first declension, masculines in -ᾱς have the vocative in -ᾱ (νεᾱνίᾱ); those in -της have -ᾰ (πολῖτα), all others in -ης have -η (Ἀτρείδη) except names of nations and compounds: Πέρσᾰ, Σκύθᾰ, γεω-μέτρᾰ, παιδο-τρίβᾰ. has a recessive accent vocative . Second-declension masculine and feminine nouns have a regular vocative ending in -ε. Third-declension nouns with one syllable ending in -ς have a vocative that is identical to the nominative (, night); otherwise, the stem (with necessary alterations, such as dropping final consonants) serves as the vocative (nom. , voc. ; nom. , gen. , voc. ). Irregular vocatives exist as well, such as nom. Σωκράτης, voc. Σώκρατες. In
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...
, second-declension masculine nouns still have a vocative ending in -ε. However, the accusative case is often used as a vocative in informal speech for a limited number of nouns, and always used for certain modern Greek person names: "" "Come here, Christos" instead of "". Other nominal declensions use the same form in the vocative as the accusative in formal or informal speech, with the exception of learned '' Katharevousa'' forms that are inherited from Ancient Greek (Demotic , "Greek man"), which have the same nominative and vocative forms instead.


Iranian languages


Kurdish

Kurdish has a vocative case. For instance, in the dialect of Kurmanji, it is created by adding the suffix at the end of
masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...
words and the suffix at the end of
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
ones. In the Jafi dialect of
Sorani Central Kurdish, also known as Sorani Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Central Kurdish is one of the ...
it is created by adding the suffix of at the end of names. Instead of the vocative case, forms of address may be created by using the grammatical particles (feminine) and (masculine):


Indo-Aryan languages


Hindi-Urdu

In
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
( Hindustani), the vocative case has the same form as the nominative case for all singular nouns except for the singular masculine nouns that terminate in the vowel and for all nouns in their plural forms the vocative case is always distinct from the nominative case. Adjectives in ''Hindi-Urdu'' also have a vocative case form. In the absence of a noun argument, some adjectives decline like masculine nouns that do not end in . The vocative case has many similarities with the
oblique case In grammar, an oblique ( abbreviated ; from ) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case and, sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role except as subject, ...
in Hindustani.


Sanskrit

In
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, the vocative ( ) has the same form as the nominative except in the singular. In vowel-stem nouns, if there is a in the nominative, it is omitted and the stem vowel may be altered: and become , becomes , and become short and becomes . Consonant-stem nouns have no ending in the vocative: The vocative form is the same as the nominative except in the masculine and feminine singular.


Slavic languages


Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
has a distinct vocative case for many stems of singular masculine and feminine nouns, otherwise it is identical to the nominative. When different from the nominative, the vocative is simply formed from the nominative by appending either ( : ) or ( : ), but occasionally ( : , : , : ) and ( : , : , : , : ) appear. Nouns ending with have a vocative ending of ( : , : ), likewise nouns ending with assume the vocative suffix ( : ). This is similar to Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, and Sanskrit, which also employ the ''-e'' suffix in vocatives.


Bulgarian

Unlike most other
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
, Bulgarian has lost case marking for nouns. However, Bulgarian preserves vocative forms. Traditional male names usually have a vocative ending. More-recent names and foreign names may have a vocative form but it is rarely used (, instead of simply Richard, sounds unusual or humorous to native speakers). Vocative phrases like (Mr. Minister) have been almost completely replaced by nominative forms, especially in official writing. Proper nouns usually also have vocative forms, but they are used less frequently. Here are some proper nouns that are frequently used in vocative: Vocative case forms also normally exist for female given names: Except for forms that end in -, they are considered rude and are normally avoided. For female kinship terms, the vocative is always used:


Czech

In Czech, the vocative (, or – ) usually differs from the nominative in masculine and feminine nouns in the singular. In older common Czech (19th century), vocative form was sometimes replaced by nominative form in case of female names () and in case of male nouns past a title (, , ). This phenomenon was caused mainly by the German influence, and almost disappeared from the modern Czech. It can be felt as rude, discourteous or uncultivated, or as familiar, and is associated also with Slovakian influence (from the Czechoslovak Army) or Russian. In informal speech, it is common (but grammatically incorrect) to use the male
surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
(see also
Czech name Czech names are composed of a given name and a surname, family name (surname). Czechs typically get one given name – additional names may be chosen by themselves upon baptism but they generally use one. With marriage, the bride typically adopts ...
) in the nominative to address men: ''pane Novák!'' instead of ''pane Nováku!'' (Female surnames are
adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...
s, and their nominative and vocative have the same form: see Czech declension.) Using the vocative is strongly recommended in official and written styles.


Polish

In Polish, the vocative () is formed with feminine nouns usually taking except those that end in , , , and , which take , and those that end in , which take . Masculine nouns generally follow the complex pattern of the
locative case In grammar, the locative case ( ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. In languages using it, the locative case may perform a function which in English would be expressed with such prepositions as "in", "on", "at", and ...
, with the exception of a handful of words such as , and . Neuter nouns and all plural nouns have the same form in the nominative and the vocative: {, class="wikitable" !
Nominative case In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants ...
! Vocative case ! Gloss , - ! colspan=3 , Feminine , - , , , , - , , , {{gloss, diminutive form of {{lang, pl, Ewa) , - , {{lang, pl, ciemność , {{lang, pl, ciemności! , {{gloss, darkness , - , {{lang, pl, książka , {{lang, pl, książko! , {{gloss, book , - ! colspan=3 , Masculine , - , {{lang, pl, Pan profesor , {{lang, pl, Panie profesorze! , {{gloss, Mr. Professor , - , {{lang, pl, Krzysztof , {{lang, pl, Krzysztofie! , {{gloss, Christopher! , - , {{lang, pl, Krzyś , {{lang, pl, Krzysiu! , {{gloss, Chris , - , {{lang, pl, wilk , {{lang, pl, wilku! , {{gloss, wolf , - , {{lang, pl, człowiek , {{lang, pl, człowieku!
{{lang, pl, człowiecze! (poetic) , {{gloss, human The latter form of the vocative of {{lang, pl, człowiek {{gloss, human is now considered poetical. The
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
is increasingly used instead of the vocative to address people with their proper names. In other contexts the vocative remains prevalent. It is used: *To address an individual with the function, title, other attribute, family role **{{lang, pl, Panie doktorze (Doctor!), {{lang, pl, Panie prezesie! (Chairman!) **{{lang, pl, Przybywasz za późno, pływaku (You arrive too late, swimmer) **{{lang, pl, synu (son), {{lang, pl, mamo (mum), {{lang, pl, tato (dad) *After adjectives,
demonstrative Demonstratives (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic, their meaning ...
pronouns and
possessive pronoun A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from ; ) is a word or grammatical construction indicating a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ownership, or a number of other types of relation to a greater or le ...
s **{{lang, pl, Nie rozumiesz mnie, moja droga Basiu! (You don't understand me, my dear Basia!) *To address an individual in an offensive or condescending manner: **{{lang, pl, Zamknij się, pajacu! ("Shut up, you buffoon!") **{{lang, pl, Co się gapisz, idioto? ("What are you staring at, idiot?") **{{lang, pl, Nie znasz się, baranie, to nie pisz! ("Stop writing, idiot, you don't know what you're doing!") **{{lang, pl, Spadaj, wieśniaku! ("Get lost, hillbilly!") *After "Ty" (second person singular pronoun) **{{lang, pl, Ty kłamczuchu! (You liar!) *Set expressions: **{{lang, pl, (O) Matko!, (O) Boże!, chłopie The vocative is also often employed in affectionate and endearing contexts such as {{lang, pl, Kocham Cię, Krzysiu! ("I love you, Chris!") or {{lang, pl, Tęsknię za Tobą, moja Żono ("I miss you, my wife."). In addition, the vocative form sometimes takes the place of the nominative in informal conversations: {{lang, pl, Józiu przyszedł instead of {{lang, pl, Józio przyszedł ("Joey's arrived"). When referring to someone by their first name, the nominative commonly takes the place of the vocative as well: {{lang, pl, Ania, chodź tu! instead of {{lang, pl, Aniu, chodź tu! ("Anne, come here!").


Russian


=Historic vocative

= The historic Slavic vocative has been lost in Russian and is now used only in archaic expressions. Several of them, mostly of
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
origin, are common in colloquial Russian: "{{lang, ru, Боже!, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Bože, vocative of "{{lang, ru, Бог, italic=no" {{Transliteration, ru, Bog, "God") and "{{lang, ru, Боже мой!, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Bože moj, "My God!"), and "{{lang, ru, Господи!, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Gospodi, vocative of "{{lang, ru, Господь, italic=no" {{Transliteration, ru, Gospodj, "Lord"), which can also be expressed as "{{lang, ru, Господи Иисусе!, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Gospodi Iisuse!, {{Transliteration, ru, Iisuse vocative of "{{lang, ru, Иисус, italic=no" {{Transliteration, ru, Iisus, "Jesus"). The vocative is also used in prayers: "{{lang, ru, Отче наш!, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Otče naš, "Our Father!"), or the Russian version of the
Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer, also known as The Prayer, is a short formulaic prayer and is especially esteemed and advocated in Eastern Christianity and Catholicism. There are multiple versions of this prayer, however the most widely used version is as follo ...
("Господи Иисусе Христе"). Such expressions are used to express strong emotions (much like English "O my God!"), and are often combined ("{{lang, ru, Господи, Боже мой, italic=no"). More examples of the historic vocative can be found in other Biblical quotes that are sometimes used as proverbs: "{{lang, ru, Врачу, исцелися сам, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, Vraču, iscelisia sam, "Physician, heal thyself", nom. "{{lang, ru, врач, italic=no", {{Transliteration, ru, vrač). Vocative forms are also used in modern Church Slavonic. The patriarch and bishops of the
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
are addressed as "{{lang, ru, владыко, italic=no" ({{Transliteration, ru, vladyko, hegemon, nom. "{{lang, ru, владыка, italic=no", {{Transliteration, ru, vladyka). In the latter case, the vocative is often also incorrectly used for the nominative to refer to bishops and patriarchs. These Old Church Slavonic words that are present in the current Russian language are known as "
fossil word A fossil word is a word that is broadly obsolete but remains in current use due to its presence within an idiom or phrase. An example for a word sense is 'ado' in 'much ado'. An example for a phrase is ' in point' (relevant), which is retained ...
s".


=New vocative

= In modern colloquial Russian,
given names A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...
and a small family of terms often take a special "shortened" form that some linguists consider to be a re-emerging vocative case. It is used only for given names and nouns that end in {{lang, ru, -a, italic=no and {{lang, ru, -я, italic=no, which are sometimes dropped in the vocative form: "{{lang, ru, Лен, где ты?, italic=no" ("Lena, where are you?"). It is basically equivalent to "{{lang, ru, Лена, где ты?, italic=no" but suggests a positive personal and emotional bond between the speaker and the person being addressed. Names that end in {{lang, ru, -я, italic=no then acquire a soft sign: "{{lang, ru, Оль!, italic=no" = "{{lang, ru, Оля!, italic=no" ("Olga!"). In addition to given names, the form is often used with words like "{{lang, ru, мама, italic=no" (mom) and "{{lang, ru, папа, italic=no" (dad), which would be respectively shortened to "{{lang, ru, мам, italic=no" and "{{lang, ru, пап, italic=no". The plural form is used with words such as "{{lang, ru, ребят, italic=no", "{{lang, ru, девчат, italic=no" (nom: "{{lang, ru, ребята, italic=no", "{{lang, ru, девчата, italic=no" guys, gals). Such usage differs from the historic vocative, which would be "{{lang, ru, Лено, italic=no" and is not related.


Serbo-Croatian

In
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
languages, distinct vocatives exist only for singular masculine and feminine nouns. Nouns of the neuter gender and all nouns in plural have a vocative equal to the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
. All vocative suffixes known from
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
also exist in Serbo-Croatian.{{cite book , last1= Barić , first1= Eugenija , last2= Lončarić , first2= Mijo , last3= Malić , first3= Dragica , last4= Pavešić , first4= Slavko , last5= Peti , first5= Mirko , last6= Zečević , first6= Vesna , last7= Znika , first7= Marija , title= Hrvatska gramatika , publisher= Školska knjiga , year= 1997 , isbn= 953-0-40010-1 The vocative in Serbo-Croatian is formed according to one of three types of
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence by way of an inflection. Declension may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and det ...
, which are classes of nouns with the same declension suffixes.


= First declension

= The first declension comprises masculine nouns that end with a consonant. These have a vocative suffix of either {{lang, sh, -e ({{lang, sh, doktor : doktore {{gloss, doctor) or {{lang, sh, -u ({{lang, sh, gospodar : gospodaru {{gloss, master). Nouns terminating in {{lang, sh, -or have the {{lang, sh, -e vocative suffix: {{lang, sh, doktor : doktore {{gloss, doctor, {{lang, sh, major : majore {{gloss, major, {{lang, sh, majstor : majstore {{gloss, artisan, as well as nouns possessing an unsteady {{lang, sh, a: {{lang, sh, vetar : vetre {{gloss, wind, {{lang, sh, svekar : svekre {{gloss, father-in-law, and the noun {{lang, sh, car : care {{gloss, emperor. All other nouns in this class form the vocative with {{lang, sh, -u: {{lang, sh, gospodar : gospodaru {{gloss, master, {{lang, sh, pastir : pastiru {{gloss, shepherd, {{lang, sh, inženjer : inženjeru {{gloss, engineer, {{lang, sh, pisar : pisaru {{gloss, scribe, {{lang, sh, sekretar : sekretaru {{gloss, secretary. In particular, masculine nouns ending with a palatal or prepalatal consonant {{lang, sh, j, lj, nj, č, dž, ć, đ or {{lang, sh, š form vocatives with the {{lang, sh, -u suffix: {{lang, sh, heroj : heroju {{gloss, hero, {{lang, sh, prijatelj : prijatelju {{gloss, friend, {{lang, sh, konj : konju {{gloss, horse, {{lang, sh, vozač : vozaču {{gloss, driver, {{lang, sh, mladić : mladiću {{gloss, youngster, {{lang, sh, kočijaš : kočijašu {{gloss, coachman, {{lang, sh, muž : mužu {{gloss, husband. Nouns ending with the velars {{lang, sh, -k, -g and {{lang, sh, -h are palatalized to {{lang, sh, -č, -ž, -š in the vocative: {{lang, cs, vojnik : vojniče {{gloss, soldier, {{lang, cs, drug : druže {{gloss, comrade, {{lang, sh, duh : duše {{gloss, ghost. A final {{lang, sh, -c becomes {{lang, sh, -č in the vocative: {{lang, sh, stric : striče {{gloss, uncle, {{lang, sh, lovac : lovče {{gloss, hunter. Likewise, a final {{lang, sh, -z becomes {{lang, sh, -ž in only two cases: {{lang, sh, knez : kneže {{gloss, prince and {{lang, sh, vitez : viteže {{gloss, knight. The loss of the unsteady {{lang, sh, a can trigger a sound change by hardening consonants, as in {{lang, sh, vrabac : vrapče {{gloss, sparrow (not {{lang, sh, *vrabče), {{lang, sh, lisac : lišče {{gloss, male fox (not {{lang, sh, *lisče) and {{lang, sh, ženomrzac : ženomršče {{gloss, misogynist (not {{lang, sh, *ženomrzče). There may be a loss of {{lang, sh, -t before {{lang, sh, -c like in {{lang, sh, otac : oče {{gloss, father (instead of {{lang, sh, *otče), {{lang, sh, svetac : sveče {{gloss, saint (instead of {{lang, sh, *svetče). When these phonetic alterations would substantially change the base noun, the vocative remains equal to the nominative, for example {{lang, sh, tetak {{gloss, uncle, {{lang, sh, mačak {{gloss, male cat, {{lang, sh, bratac {{gloss, cousin. This also holds true for foreign names ending with {{lang, sh, -k, -g and {{lang, sh, -h like {{lang, sh, Džek {{gloss, Jack, {{lang, sh, Dag {{gloss, Doug, {{lang, sh, King, Hajnrih. Male names ending with {{lang, sh, -o and {{lang, sh, -e have a vocative equal to the nominative, for example: {{lang, sh, Marko, Mihailo, Danilo, Đorđe, Pavle, Radoje.


= Second declension

= The second declension affects nouns with the ending ''{{lang, sh, -a''. These are mainly of feminine but sometimes also of masculine gender. These nouns have a vocative suffix ''{{lang, sh, -o'': {{lang, sh, riba : ribo {{gloss, fish, {{lang, sh, sluga : slugo {{gloss, servant, {{lang, sh, kolega : kolego {{gloss, colleague, {{lang, sh, poslovođa : poslovođo {{gloss, manager. Exemptions to this rule are male and female given names, which have a vocative equal to the nominative, e. g. {{lang, sh, Vera, Zorka, Olga, Marija, Gordana, Nataša, Nikola, Kosta, Ilija etc. However, this is different for twosyllabic names with an ascending accent such as female names {{lang, sh, Nâda, Zôra, Mîca, Nêna and male names {{lang, sh, Pêra, Bôža, Pâja, etc., which form vocatives with ''{{lang, sh, -o'': {{lang, sh, Nâdo, Zôro, Mîco, Pêro, Bôžo, Pâjo, etc. Denominations of relatives like {{lang, sh, mama {{gloss, mom, {{lang, sh, tata {{gloss, dad, ''{{lang, sh, baba'' {{gloss, grandmother, {{lang, sh, deda {{gloss, grandfather, {{lang, sh, tetka {{gloss, aunt (parent's sister), ''{{lang, sh, ujna'' {{gloss, aunt (mother's brother's wife), ''{{lang, sh, strina'' {{gloss, aunt (father's brother's wife) have vocatives equal to the nominative. This also holds true for country names ending in ''{{lang, sh, -ska, -čka, -ška''. Nouns ending with the
diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...
suffix ''-ica'' that consist of three or more syllables have a vocative with ''-e'': ''učiteljica: učiteljice'' "female teacher", ''drugarica: drugarice'' "girlfriend", ''tatica: tatice'' "daddy", ''mamica: mamice'' "mommy". This also applies to female names ''Danica: Danice'', ''Milica: Milice'', ''Zorica: Zorice'', and the male names ''Perica: Perice'', ''Tomica: Tomice''. Nouns of this class that can be applied to both males and females usually have a vocative ending of ''-ico'' (''pijanica: pijanico'' "drunkard", ''izdajica: izdajico'' "traitor", ''kukavica: kukavico'' "coward"), but vocatives with ''-ice'' are also seen. The use of vocative endings for names varies among Serbo-Croatian dialects. People in
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
often use only nominative forms as vocatives, while others are more likely to use grammatical vocatives.{{cite web, url=https://repozitorij.ffos.hr/islandora/object/ffos%3A3127/datastream/PDF/view, title=Vokativ osobnih imena u hrvatskom jeziku, author=Alen Orlić, publisher= University of Osijek, date=2011, language=hr, access-date=17 October 2018


= Third declension

= The third declension affects feminine nouns ending with a consonant. The vocative is formed by appending the suffix ''{{lang, sh, -i'' to the nominative ({{lang, sh, reč : reči {{gloss, word, {{lang, sh, noć : noći {{gloss, night).


Slovak

Until the end of the 1980s, the existence of a distinct vocative case in Slovak was recognised and taught at schools. Today, the case is no longer considered to exist except for a few archaic examples of the original vocative remaining in religious, literary or ironic contexts: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative !Translation !Nominative !Vocative !Translation !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, sk, Boh ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, Bože , God , {{lang, sk, Ježiš ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, Ježišu , Jesus , {{lang, sk, mama ''f.'' , {{lang, sk, mamo , mother , - , {{lang, sk, Kristus ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, Kriste , Christ , {{lang, sk, priateľ ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, priateľu , friend , {{lang, sk, žena ''f.'' , {{lang, sk, ženo , woman , - , {{lang, sk, pán ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, pane , lord , {{lang, sk, brat ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, bratu, {{lang, sk, bratku , brother , , , , - , {{lang, sk, otec ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, otče , father , {{lang, sk, syn ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, synu, {{lang, sk, synku , son , , , , - , {{lang, sk, človek ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, človeče , man, human , , , , , , , - , {{lang, sk, chlap ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, chlape , man , , , , , , , - , {{lang, sk, chlapec ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, chlapče , boy , , , , , , In everyday use, the Czech vocative is sometimes retrofitted to certain words: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, sk, majster ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, majstre , maestro , - , {{lang, sk, šéf ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, šéfe , boss , - , {{lang, sk, švagor ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, švagre , brother-in-law Another stamp of vernacular vocative is emerging, presumably under the influence of Hungarian for certain family members or proper names: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, sk, otec ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, oci , father , - , {{lang, sk, mama ''f.'' , {{lang, sk, mami , mother , - , {{lang, sk, babka ''f.'' , {{lang, sk, babi , grandmother, old woman , - , {{lang, sk, Paľo ''m.'' , {{lang, sk, Pali , Paul, domestic form , - , {{lang, sk, Zuza ''f.'' , {{lang, sk, Zuzi , Susan, domestic form


Ukrainian

Ukrainian has retained the vocative case mostly as it was in
Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
: {, class="wikitable" ! colspan="3" , Masculine nouns ! colspan="3" , Feminine nouns , - !Nominative !Vocative !Translation !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, uk, бог, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, boh , {{lang, uk, боже, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, bože , god , {{lang, uk, матуся, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, matusja , {{lang, uk, матусю, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, matusju , minnie , - , {{lang, uk, друг, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, druh , {{lang, uk, друже, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, druže , friend , {{lang, uk, неня, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, nenja , {{lang, uk, нене, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, nene , nanny , - , {{lang, uk, брат, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, brat , {{lang, uk, брате, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, brate , brother , {{lang, uk, бабця, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, babcja , {{lang, uk, бабцю, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, babcju , granny , - , {{lang, uk, чоловік, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, čolovik , {{lang, uk, чоловіче, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, čoloviče , man , {{lang, uk, жінка, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, žinka , {{lang, uk, жінко, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, žinko , woman , - , {{lang, uk, хлопець, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, chlopec' , {{lang, uk, хлопче, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, chlopče , boy , {{lang, uk, дружина, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, družyna , {{lang, uk, дружино, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, družyno , wife , - , {{lang, uk, святий отець, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, svjatyj otec' , {{lang, uk, святий отче, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, svjatyj otče , Holy Father , {{lang, uk, дівчина, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, divčyna , {{lang, uk, дівчино, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, divčyno , girl , - , {{lang, uk, пан, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pan , {{lang, uk, пане, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pane , sir, Mr. , {{lang, uk, сестра, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, sestra , {{lang, uk, сестро, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, sestro , sister , - , {{lang, uk, приятель, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pryjatel' , {{lang, uk, приятелю, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pryjatelju , fellow , {{lang, uk, людина, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, ljudyna , {{lang, uk, людино, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, ljudyno , human, person , - , {{lang, uk, батько, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, bat'ko , {{lang, uk, батьку, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, bat'ku , father , , , , - , {{lang, uk, син, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, syn , {{lang, uk, сину, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, synu , son , , , There are some exceptions: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, uk, мати, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, maty f. , {{lang, uk, мамо, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, mamo , mother , - , {{lang, uk, божа матір, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, boža matir f. , {{lang, uk, матір божа, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, matir boža , God's Mother It is used even for loanwords and foreign names: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative !Translation , - , {{lang, uk, Джон, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Džon m. , {{lang, uk, Джоне, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Džone , John , - , {{lang, uk, пан президент, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pan prezydent m. , {{lang, uk, пане президенте, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, pane prezydente , Mr. President It is obligatory for all native names: {, class="wikitable" ! colspan="2" , Masculine ! colspan="2" , Feminine , - !Nominative !Vocative !Nominative !Vocative , - , {{lang, uk, Володимир, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Volodymyr , {{lang, uk, Володимире, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Volodymyre , {{lang, uk, Мирослава, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Myroslava , {{lang, uk, Мирославо, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Myroslavo , - , {{lang, uk, Святослав, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Svjatoslav , {{lang, uk, Святославе, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Svjatoslave , {{lang, uk, Ганна, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Hanna , {{lang, uk, Ганно, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Hanno It is used for patronymics: {, class="wikitable" !Nominative !Vocative , - , {{lang, uk, Андрій Васильович, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Andrij Vasylovyč m. , {{lang, uk, Андрію Васильовичу, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Andriju Vasyliovyču , - , {{lang, uk, Ірина Богданівна, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Iryna Bohdanivna f. , {{lang, uk, Ірино Богданівно, italic=no {{lang, uk-latn, Iryno Bohdanivno


Latin

In
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, the form of the vocative case of a noun is often the same as the nominative. Exceptions include singular non-neuter second-declension nouns that end in {{lang, la, -us in the nominative case. An example would be the famous line from Shakespeare, "{{lang, la, Et tu, Brute?" (commonly translated as "And you, Brutus?"): {{lang, la, Brute is the vocative case and {{lang, la, Brutus would be the nominative. Nouns that end in {{lang, la, -ius end with {{lang, la, -ī instead of the expected {{lang, la, -ie. Thus, {{lang, la, Julius becomes {{lang, la, Julī and {{lang, la, filius becomes {{lang, la, filī. The shortening does not shift the accent so the vocative of {{lang, la, Vergilius is {{lang, la, Vergilī, with accent on the second syllable even though it is short. Nouns that end in {{lang, la, -aius and {{lang, la, -eius have vocatives that end in {{lang, la, -aī or {{lang, la, -eī even though the {{lang, la, -i- in the nominative is consonantal. First-declension and second-declension adjectives also have distinct vocative forms in the masculine singular if the nominative ends in {{lang, la, -us, with the ending {{lang, la, -e. Adjectives that end in {{lang, la, -ius have vocatives in {{lang, la, -ie so the vocative of {{lang, la, eximius is {{lang, la, eximie. Nouns and adjectives that end in {{lang, la, -eus do not follow the rules above. {{lang, la, Meus forms the vocative irregularly as {{lang, la, mī or {{lang, la, meus, while Christian {{lang, la, Deus does not have a distinct vocative and retains the form {{lang, la, Deus. "My God!" in Latin is thus {{lang, la, mī Deus!, but
Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...
's
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
consistently used {{lang, la, Deus meus as a vocative.
Classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin ...
did not use a vocative of {{lang, la, deus either (in reference to pagan gods, the Romans used the suppletive form {{lang, la, dive).


Romance languages


West Iberian languages

Portuguese drops the article to form the vocative. The vocative is always between commas and, like in many other languages, a particle ''Ó'' is commonly used: {, class="wikitable" , ''{{lang, pt, Ó Jesus, ajude-nos!'' , O Jesus, help us! , - , ''{{lang, pt, Menino, vem cá!'' , Boy, come here! , - , ''{{lang, pt, Não faças isso, amigo.'' , Don't do that, yfriend. In Extremaduran and Fala, some post-tonical vowels open in vocative forms of nouns, a new development that is unrelated to the Latin vocative case.


Catalan

Catalan drops the article to form the vocative.


French

Like English, French sometimes uses (or historically used) a particle ''Ô'' to mark vocative phrases rather than by change to the form of the noun. A famous example is the title and first line of the Canadian national anthem, '' O Canada'' (French title: ''Ô Canada''), a vocative phrase addressing
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.


Romanian

The vocative case in Romanian is partly inherited, occasionally causing other morphophonemic changes (see also the article on Romanian nouns): *singular masculine/neuter: {{lang, ro, -e as in **{{lang, ro, om: {{lang, ro, omule! (man, human being), **{{lang, ro, băiat: {{lang, ro, băiete! or {{lang, ro, băiatule! (boy), **{{lang, ro, văr: {{lang, ro, vere! (cousin), **{{lang, ro, Ion: {{lang, ro, Ioane! (John); *singular feminine: {{lang, ro, -o as in **{{lang, ro, soră: {{lang, ro, soro! (sister), **{{lang, ro, nebună: {{lang, ro, nebuno! (mad woman), also in masculine ({{lang, ro, nebunul) **{{lang, ro, deșteaptă: {{lang, ro, deșteapto! (smart one (f), often used sarcastically), **{{lang, ro, Ileana: {{lang, ro, Ileano! (Helen); Since there is no ''-o'' vocative in Latin, it must have been borrowed from Slavic: compare the corresponding Bulgarian forms {{lang, bg, сестро, italic=no ({{lang, uk-latn, sestro), {{lang, bg, откачалко, italic=no ({{lang, bg-latn, otkachalko), {{lang, bg, Елено, italic=no ({{lang, bg-latn, Eleno). *plural, all genders: {{lang, ro, -lor as in **{{lang, ro, frați: {{lang, ro, fraților! (brothers), **{{lang, ro, boi: {{lang, ro, boilor! (oxen, used toward people as an invective), **{{lang, ro, doamne și domni: {{lang, ro, doamnelor și domnilor! (ladies and gentlemen). In formal speech, the vocative often simply copies the nominative/accusative form even when it does have its own form. That is because the vocative is often perceived as very direct and so can seem rude.


Romanesco dialect

In Romanesco dialect the vocative case appears as a regular truncation immediately after the stress. Compare (vocative, always truncated) : ''France', vie' qua!'' :: "Francesco/Francesca, come here!" with (nominative, never truncated) : ''Francesco/Francesca viene qua'' :: "Francesco/Francesca comes here"


Venetian

Venetian has lost all case endings, like most other Romance languages. However, with feminine proper names the role of the vocative is played by the absence of the determiner: the personal article {{lang, vec, ła / l' usually precedes feminine names in other situations, even in predicates. Masculine names and other nouns lack articles and so rely on prosody to mark forms of address: {, class="wikitable" , - ! Case ! Fem. proper name ! Masc. proper name and other nouns , - ! Nom./Acc. , {{lang, vec, ła Marìa ła vien qua / varda ła Marìa!
{{gloss, Mary comes here / look at Mary! , {{lang, vec, Marco el vien qua / varda Marco!
{{gloss, Mark comes here / look at Mark! , - ! Vocative , {{lang, vec, Marìa vien qua! / varda, Marìa!
{{gloss, Mary, come here! / look, Mary! , {{lang, vec, Marco vien qua! / varda, Marco!
{{gloss, Mark, come here! / look, Mark! Predicative constructions: {, class="wikitable" , - ! Case ! Fem. proper name ! Masc. proper name and other nouns , - ! Pred. , {{lang, vec, so' mi ła Marìa
{{gloss, I am Mary. , {{lang, vec, so' mi Marco / so' tornà maestra
{{gloss, I am Mark. / I am a teacher again. , - ! Vocative , {{lang, vec, so' mi Marìa!
{{gloss, It's me, Mary! , {{lang, vec, so' mi, Marco! / so' tornà, maestra!
{{gloss, It's me, Mark! / I am back, teacher!


Arabic

{{Wiktionary, يا Properly speaking,
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
has only three cases:
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
, accusative and
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...
. However, a meaning similar to that conveyed by the vocative case in other languages is indicated by the use of the particle ''yā'' ({{langx, ar, يا) placed before a noun inflected in the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
case (or accusative if the noun is in construct form). In English translations, it is often translated literally as ''O'' instead of being omitted. A longer form used in
Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...
is {{lang, ar, أيّها ''{{Transliteration, ar, ALA, ayyuhā'' (masculine), {{lang, ar, أيّتها ''{{Transliteration, ar, ALA, ayyatuhā'' (feminine), sometimes combined with ''yā''. The particle ''yā'' was also used in the old Castilian language because of Arabic influence via Mozarabic immigrations.


Mandarin

Mandarin uses no special inflected forms for address. However, special forms and
morphemes A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...
(that are not inflections) exist for addressing. Mandarin has several particles that can be attached to the word of address to mark certain special vocative forces, where appropriate. A common one is 啊( zh, c=啊, p=a) attached to the end of the address word. For example, 日记( zh, c=日记, p=Rìjì) "diary" becomes 日记啊 ( zh, c=日记啊, p=Rìjì a). Certain specialized vocative morphemes also exist, albeit with limited applicabilities. For instance, the
Beijing dialect The Beijing dialect ( zh, s=北京话, t=北京話, p=Běijīnghuà), also known as Pekingese and Beijingese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, the ...
of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
, to express strong feelings (especially negative ones) to someone, a neutral tone suffix ''-ei'' may be attached to certain address words. It is most commonly applied to the word {{lang, cmn, 孙子 (''sūnzi'', "grandson"), to form ''sūnzei'', meaning approximately "Hey you nasty one!". Another example is {{lang, cmn, 小子 (''xiǎozi'', lit. "kid; young one"), resulting in ''xiǎozei'' "Hey kiddo!".


Japanese

{{See also, Japanese particles#yo The vocative case is present in Japanese as the particle {{lang, ja, よ. This usage is often literary or poetic. For example: {, class="wikitable" , {{lang, ja, 雨よ雪に変わってくれ!
{{Transliteration, ja, Ame yo yuki ni kawatte kure! , O Rain! Please change to snow! , - , {{lang, ja, 万国の労働者よ、団結せよ!
{{Transliteration, ja, Bankoku no rōdō-sha yo, danketsu seyo! , Workers of the world, unite! , - , {{lang, ja, 少年よ、神話になれ!
{{Transliteration, ja, Shōnen yo, shinwa ni nare! , Young boy, become a legend! In conversational Japanese, this same particle is often used at the end of a sentence to indicate assertiveness, certainty or emphasis.


Georgian

In Georgian, the vocative case is used to address the second-person singular and plural. For word roots that end with a consonant, the vocative case suffix is -''o'', and for the words that end with a vowel, it is -''v'' like in Old Georgian, but for some words, it is considered archaic. For example, ''kats-'' is the root for the word "man". If one addresses someone with the 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: :''lamazi kali'' "beautiful woman" (nominative case) :''lamazo kalo!'' "beautiful woman!" (vocative case) In the second phrase, both the adjective and the noun are declined. The personal pronouns are also used in the vocative case. ''Shen'' "you" (singular) and ''tkven'' "you" (plural) in the vocative case become ''she!'' and ''tkve'', without the -''n''. Therefore, one could, for instance, say, with the declension of all of the elements: ''She lamazo kalo!'' "you beautiful woman!"


Korean

The vocative case in Korean is commonly used with first names in casual situations by using the vocative case marker {{lang, ko, (호격 조사) 아 ({{Transliteration, ko, a) if the name ends in a consonant and {{lang, ko, 야 ({{Transliteration, ko, ya) if the name ends with a vowel: {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, number=1a., 미진이 집에 가?, Mijini jibe ga?, Is Mijin going home? {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, number=1b., 미진아, 집에 가?, Mijina, jibe ga?, Mijin, are you going home? {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, number=2a., 동배 뭐 해?, Dongbae mwo hae?, What is Dongbae doing? {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, number=2b., 동배야, 뭐 해?, Dongbaeya, mwo hae?, Dongbae, what are you doing? In formal Korean, the marker {{lang, ko, 여 ({{Transliteration, ko, yeo) or {{lang, ko, 이여 ({{Transliteration, ko, iyeo) is used, the latter if the root ends with a consonant. Thus, a quotation of William S. Clark would be translated as follows: {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, indent=2, 소년이여, 야망을 가져라., sonyeoniyeo, yamangeul gajyeora., Boys, be ambitious. The
honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...
infix {{lang, ko, 시 ({{Transliteration, ko, si) is inserted in between the {{lang, ko, 이 ({{Transliteration, ko, i) and {{lang, ko, 여 ({{Transliteration, ko, yeo). {{fs interlinear, lang=ko, indent=2, 신이시여, 부디 저들을 용서하소서., sinisiyeo, budi jeodeureul yongseohasoseo., Oh god, please forgive them. In Middle Korean, there were three honorific classes of the vocative case: {, class="wikitable" !Form , 하 , 아/야 , 여/이여 , - !Honorific , High , Plain , Low with added nuance of exclamation


Hungarian

Hungarian has a number of vocative-like constructions, even though it lacks an explicit vocative
inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...
. Noun phrases in a vocative context always take the zero article. While noun phrases can take zero articles for other reasons, the lack of an article otherwise expected marks a vocative construction. This is especially prominent in dialects of Hungarian where personal proper names and other personal animate nouns tend to take the appropriate definite article, similarly to certain dialects of German detailed above. For example: {, class="wikitable" , - ! Nominative ! Vocative , - , {{lang, hu, (Az) Olivér még beszélget.
Oliver is still chatting. , , {{lang, hu, Olivér, gyere ide!
Oliver, come over here. , - , {{lang, hu, Kiönthette voln’ a honfi megtelt szívét.
Might have pour'd the full tide of a patriot's heart. , {{lang, hu, Honfi, mit ér epedő kebel e romok ormán?
Patriot, why do you yearn on these ruins? , - , {{lang, hu, A szerelem csodaszép.
Love is wonderful. , {{lang, hu, Látod, szerelem, mit tettél!
O Love, look what you have done! , - , {{lang, hu, (Az) Isten szerelmére!
For the love of God! , {{lang, hu, Isten, áldd meg a magyart!
God, bless the Hungarians! With certain words such as {{lang, hu, barát ("friend"), {{lang, hu, hölgy ("lady"), {{lang, hu, úr ("gentleman, lord"), vocation is, in addition to the zero article, always{{cite journal , last1=Láncz , first1=Irén , title=A megszólítás nyelvi eszközei Mikszáth Kálmán műveiben , journal=Híd , date=July–August 1997 , volume=LXI , issue=7–8 , pages=535–543 , url=http://adattar.vmmi.org/folyoiratszamok/1602/hid_1997_07-08_.pdf , access-date=2 October 2022 marked by the first person possessive:{{cite book , last1=Albertné Herbszt , first1=Mária , editor1-last=A. László , editor1-first=Anna , title=A magyar nyelv könyve , date=2007 , publisher=Trezor Kiadó , location=Budapest , isbn=978-963-8144-19-5 , page=708 , edition=9 kiad , chapter=Pragmatika {, class="wikitable" , - ! Nominative ! Vocative , - , {{lang, hu, A nemesek báljára megérkeztek a hölgyek és az urak.
The ladies and the gentlemen have arrived to the nobility's ball. , {{lang, hu, Hölgyeim és uraim, kezdődjék a tánc!
(My) Ladies and (my) gentlemen, let the dancing begin! , - , {{lang, hu, Ha az Úr nem építi a házat, hiába fáradoznak az építők.
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. , {{lang, hu, Magasztallak Uram, felemeltél engem!
I will exalt you, O (my) Lord, for you lifted me out of the depth! , - , {{lang, hu, A barát mindig segít.
A friend always helps out.
{{lang, hu, A barátom fiatal.
My friend is young. , {{lang, hu, Tudnál segíteni, barátom?
Could you help out, (my) friend? Words like {{lang, hu, testvér ("sibling, brother") and other words of relation do not require the first person possessive, but it is readily used in common speech, especially in familiar contexts: {, class="wikitable" , - ! Nominative ! Vocative , - , {{lang, hu, A testvérek elsétáltak a boltba.
The siblings walked to the shop. , {{lang, hu, Kedves testvéreim! / {{lang, hu, Kedves testvérek!
(My) dear brothers (and sisters)! , - , {{lang, hu, (Az) apához megyek.
I'm going to dad. , {{lang, hu, Apám, hogy vagy? / {{lang, hu, Apa, hogy vagy?
Dad, how are you? The second-person pronoun can be used to emphasize a vocation when appropriate: {{lang, hu, Hát miért nem adtad oda neki, te bolond? ("Why did you not give it to him, you fool?"), {{lang, hu, Te Karcsi, nem láttad a szemüvegem? ("Charlie, have you seen my glasses?"), {{lang, hu, Lógtok ezért még, ti gazemberek. ("You shall yet hang for this, crooks!"), etc.


References

* Eleanor Dickey: ''Greek forms of address. From Herodotus to Lucian''. Clarendon, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-19-815054-7. * Eleanor Dickey: ''Latin forms of address. From Plautus to Apuleius''. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, ISBN 0-19-924287-9. * Espinal, Teresa M. 2013
On the structure of vocatives.
In Barbara Sonnenhauser & Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna (eds.). Vocative! Addressing between system and performance. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 261, 109-132 Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110304176.109 * Virginia Hill: ''Vocatives. How Syntax meets with Pragmatics''. Brill, Leiden 2014, ISBN 978-90-04-26079-5. * Hill, Virginia. 2007
“Vocatives and the pragmatics–syntax interface”.
In: Lingua 117.12, pp. 2077–2105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2007.01.002. *Ladd, Robert D. (1978)
“Stylized intonation”.
In: Language 54.3, pp. 517–540. DOI:http://www.jstor.org/stable/412785. *Leech, Geoffrey N. 1999. “The distribution and function of vocatives in American and British English conversation”. In: Out of corpora. Ed. by Hilde Hasselgård and Signe Oksefjell. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 107–118. *Maché, Jakob. 2025.
“The diversity of vocative formation across languages”
In: Catalan Journal of Linguistics 24.1, pp. 211–271. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/catjl.475. *Portner, Paul. 2007a
“Imperatives and modals”.
In: Natural Language Semantics 15.4, pp. 351–383. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-007-9022-y. *Portner, Paul. 2007b
“Instructions for interpretations as separate performatives”.
In: On Information Structure, Meaning and Form. Ed. by Kerstin Schwabe and Susanne Winkler. John Benjamins, pp. 407–426. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1075/la.100.22por *Stavrou, Melita. 2013
“About the Vocative”.
In: The Nominal Structure in Slavic and Beyond. Ed. by Lilia Schürks, Anastasia Giannakidou, and Urtzi Etxeberria. Studies in Generative Grammar 116. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 299–342. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512790.299. *Zwicky, Arnold. 1974
““Hey, Whatsyourname””
In: Papers from the Tenth Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society. April 19–21, 1974. Ed. by Michael La Galy,Robert A. Fox, and Bruck Anthony. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society, pp. 787–801. URL: https://web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/hey-whatsyourname.pdf. {{Wiktionary, vocative {{Reflist {{Grammatical cases {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Vocative Case Grammatical cases