vokatief

Vokatief, known in English as the vocative, is the grammatical case used to address someone directly. It marks the referent in direct address and is typically distinct from the nominative form that marks the subject of a sentence. In many languages, the vokatief signals direct address through special endings, stem changes, or independent forms, while in others the form is identical to the nominative or is created by syntax rather than morphology.

Across languages, vokatief behavior varies. In some Indo-European languages, the vocative involves clear inflection: Latin, for example, often changes the noun ending when calling someone, as in Marcus becoming Marce. In Polish, names and nouns frequently take a distinct vocative ending, such as Marcin becoming Marku. In other languages, including English, there is no grammatical vocative form; the same word as the nominative is used, with direct address indicated by intonation and punctuation, as in “John, please sit down.”

The vokatief also interacts with pronouns and kin terms in various ways. It can be used with proper names, titles, or terms of endearment, and some languages use fixed phrases or particles to mark direct address. Some languages merge the vocative with other cases or rely on particles or clitics to signal address.

Dutch-speaking linguistics commonly describe direct address without a productive, distinct vokatief in modern grammar; the form of a name or noun is typically unmarked, with punctuation and prosody conveying the address. Historically or poetically, vocative-like constructions may appear with emphatic particles such as “O.”

See also: vocative case, direct address, address terminology.