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

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.