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Yes! Amid the undergrowth and overgrowth and highways and by-ways of English grammar and usage, previously long-thought extinct animals, of the genus Vocative, have been unearthed!
The first example found, scampering all over the town, is 'Babes'. You may refer to a person a 'babe' but you cannot refer to them as 'babes', save when addressing them. A Vocative has therefore been snared!
Hot on the heels of this amazing discovery was the stunning revelation, which may not be clear to non-British people (indeed, non-London people) was 'Ducks'. It is a term of endearment which somehow came to be used to address perfect strangers, so that the woman who sold me newspapers, would address me as 'Ducks'. Yet she could not have said 'Ducks said this', since, again, it may only b used when addressing someone.
Since words are our tools, I felt this deserved an airing. Can anyone think of more Vocatives? 
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I will have to think on this -- I'm sure that the grammatical mangling we Australians are so often accused of will provide an example or two.
"Mate" springs to mind immediately though. I can't strictly call it vocative-only, as it's quite the multipurpose word, but I don't know that it really works in the nominative.
Really, why do you make me do these things before coffee?
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06-26-2011, 06:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-26-2011, 06:42 AM by billy.)
in the north of englamd we often call a person love or lovey, they can'y however be referred to as loves.
we also call a friend a mucker, but never call him muckers.
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(06-26-2011, 06:34 AM)Leanne Wrote: I will have to think on this -- I'm sure that the grammatical mangling we Australians are so often accused of will provide an example or two.
"Mate" springs to mind immediately though. I can't strictly call it vocative-only, as it's quite the multipurpose word, but I don't know that it really works in the nominative.
Really, why do you make me do these things before coffee?
Hope your coffee has done its job. "Leanne's mate is a monk." There it is, prancing around in the Nominative!
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Ah, but to be honest, the only real resemblance between that mate and the other is the spelling -- the usages are so utterly different that they might as well just be homonyms.
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(06-26-2011, 06:41 AM)billy Wrote: in the north of englamd we often call a person love or lovey, they can'y however be referred to as loves.
we also call a friend a mucker, but never call him muckers.
I think 'love' counts in meaning, since in this sense one is not talking about the abstract idea, but a person, and I don't think that you can use it, in that way, as subject or object. However, it does not have the distinctive form of the 's' on 'babes' and 'ducks'. 'Lovey', on the other hand, does have a distinctive form (one may also say 'ducky' to a child) and I have been searching for this '-y-' ending as a possible. I feel there are others in this field: 'matey', as in "Listen, matey..' I think began that way, but has progressed to a general all-purpose noun, as in " So then, matey here ups and sez..." The 'y' may be a kind of diminutive, but it usually reads as if representing 'my'. Hmmm...... Why do others not think this such a fascinating topic? Extraordinary!
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How about bucko?
"Now listen here, bucko..."
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Yes, I think it must be in, tho' it is not in my active vocabulary, so I am not able to test it as I otherwise would be. Now I am worrying -yes worrying! - about 'boyo'. But that is also on the edge of my active vocabulary, and I can only use it by faking a Welsh accent -- I have a feeling that Irish usage would permit Nom/Acc etc, and spoil it--- as the Irish are wont to do with British parties.
It is odd that I feel more comfortable contemplating this important matter here, than in Another Place, but I do. Quality not quantity!
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The vernacular is important to poetry -- misuse of a word will stand out to a native speaker like the proverbial dog's balls. One of the worst examples I recall reading was "the bloody buggery car wouldn't start" (no prizes for guessing which nationality was pretending to Australian-ness in that piece!)
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06-26-2011, 08:28 AM
It is true the world over. In French, people like to say 'Ca' rather than 'Cela', as it has a racy sound, yet 'cela' will do in all circs, whereas 'ca' to a French ear sounds right sometimes, dopey at others. That has made me wonder whether West Indian speech may not be fertile hunting-ground. It's funny to be OCD about Vocatives, isn't it? 
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(06-26-2011, 08:28 AM)abu nuwas Wrote: It's funny to be OCD about Vocatives, isn't it?
Ha! That's the least of my grammatical OCD concerns!
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