Original scientific paper

Linguistic functions of the vocative as a morphological, syntactic and pragmatic-semantic category

Maja Glušac orcid.org/0000-0002-9134-2115 ; University of Osijek
Ana Mikić Čolić ; University of Osijek

Abstract

The vocative as a pragmatic-semantic category, i.e. vocativeness as an appellative category, is a means of expressing many linguistic functions. From the functional point of view, vocative expressions are never monosemic, i.e. they do not serve only a conative function, as explicitly defined in the literature, but they very frequently perform other linguistic functions as well – especially the emotive function (expressing speaker’s feelings, personal attitude towards the interlocutor) and the poetic one. As a means of establishing and maintaining communication, i.e. checking the functioning of the communication channel, vocative expressions perform a phatic function as well. The referential function of vocative expressions is confined to the subject and predicative role in the language of folk poetry, and this paper shows that such a role in the contemporary Croatian language can also be performed by vocative expressions in the role of predicate adjuncts and adverbials with certain verbs.

Keywords

linguistic functions; the vocative; appellativeness, conativeness, expressiveness

Hrčak ID:

190909

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/190909

Publication date:

19.12.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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