Expressivity and Vocatives

Abstract This chapter explores expressive vocatives, focusing on their formal types, meanings, and sociolinguistic implications. It discusses how expressive vocatives are to be delineated both with respect to other types of vocatives, and related phenomena like exclamations or addressee-referring sentential arguments. Existing formal proposals of the meaning of expressive vocatives are reviewed, alongside the debate over whether expressive phenomena in vocatives are better described as grammatical or pragmatic in nature. The final part of the chapter is dedicated to sociolinguistic aspects of vocatives (e.g., how they reflect and negotiate social status, identity, and power dynamics), which are analyzed through the lens of third-wave sociolinguistics. By integrating semantic, pragmatic, and sociolinguistic perspectives, the chapter aims to provide a comprehensive view of the grammatical properties of the meaning of expressive vocatives, but also, of their function in social interaction.