Taalportaal - the digital language portal

Dutch
Frisian
Saterfrisian
Afrikaans

Show all

5.1.2.2.Vocatives

quickinfo

Certain nouns denoting a profession of social importance like dokter'doctor' or dominee'vicar' can be used as vocatives, that is, in a function similar to that of the proper noun in (108a). In this function, exemplified in (108b), the noun phrase is determinerless.

108

a.	Jan,	kan	je	even	komen?
	Jan	can	you	a while	come
	'Jan, could you come over for a minute?'

b.	Dokter/Dominee,	kunt	u	even	komen?
	doctor/vicar	can	you	a while	come
	'Doctor/Vicar, could you come over for a minute?'

Dutch has an extended, argumental use of the vocative where the speaker uses dokter/dominee as the subject of a yes/no-question, addressing the question to the person referred to by the noun. As illustrated in (109a), the profession nouns can then optionally be preceded by a definite determiner. Finally, constructions such as (109b) are typically used in addressing persons who would use the “label” dokter/dominee as a vocative for the person under discussion.

109

a.	Wil	(de)	dokter/dominee	misschien	ook	een kopje thee?
	wants	the	doctor/vicar	perhaps	also	a cup [of] tea
	'Would you also like a cup of tea, doctor/vicar?'

b.	(De)	dokter/dominee	komt	zo.
	the	doctor/vicar	comes	straightaway
	'The doctor/vicar will be with you in a moment.'

Other profession nouns, like ober'waiter', can also be used as vocatives, as is shown in (110a). They are, however, not normal in constructions like (110b&c). Example (110b) is unacceptable without the article, and is stylistically marked even with the article (it has a patronizing ring to it); example (110c) is excluded without the article, and with the article the noun phrase acts as a normal referring expression.

110

a.		Ober,	twee bier,	alstublieft.
		waiter	two beer	please

b.		Wil	*(de) ober	ook	een biertje?
		wants	the waiter	also	a beer

c.	*	(De) ober	komt	zo.
		the waiter	comes	so

Vocatives like mevrouw'madam' and meneer'sir' can be used in the same way. In examples such as (111a), the vocatives are used as a common way of politely addressing an adult person. In examples such as (111b) and especially (111c), on the other hand, the social rank of the addressee becomes more prominent: mevrouw and meneer are then used to express a difference in social status with the addressee being placed high(er) on the social scale. These examples feel somewhat old-fashioned. Note that the use of an article is not possible.

111

a.	Kan	ik	u	helpen,	mevrouw/meneer?
	can	I	you	help	madam/sir
	'Can I help you, maʼam/sir?'

b.		Wil	(*de)	mevrouw/meneer	misschien	ook	een kopje thee?
		wants	the	madam/sir	perhaps	also	a cup [of] tea

c.		(*De)	mevrouw/meneer	komt	zo.
		the	madam/sir	comes	straightaway

Kinship nouns like grootmoeder'grandmother' in (112) can also be used in a way similar to the nouns in (109) and (111). As mevrouw/meneer in (111), these kinship nouns are never preceded by a definite determiner. Note that in all these examples the more intimate noun oma, which comes somewhat closer to a true vocative, would normally be used.

112

a.	(*De)	grootmoeder/oma,	kunt	u	even	komen?
	the	grandmother/granny	can	you	a while	come
	'Grandmother, could you come over for a minute?'

b.	Wil	(*de) grootmoeder/oma	misschien	ook	een kopje thee?
	wants	the grandmother/granny	perhaps	also	a cup [of] tea
	'Would you also like a cup of tea, grandmother?'

c.	(*De) grootmoeder/oma	komt	zo.
	the grandmother/granny	comes	straightaway
	'Grandmother will be with you straightaway.'

In a sense, kinship nouns can be much more freely used than the “profession” nouns in (109). In (109c), the speaker refers to a certain person by using the label the listener would normally use while addressing that person. Comparable examples containing bare kinship nouns like vader/pappa, on the other hand, are often several ways ambiguous, depending on the context. Like (109c), example (113) has a reading where vader/pappa is the “label” normally used by the listener (but not necessarily by the speaker himself) in addressing the person under discussion: this is the “your daddy” reading in (113i). In addition, it also has a reading in which the speaker uses the “label” vader/pappa to refer to himself, that is, (113ii) can be uttered by the addresseeʼs father himself. Finally, the sentence can be uttered by the person who normally uses the “label” vader/pappa to address the person under discussion: this is the “my daddy” reading in (113iii). In all three interpretations of (113) we are dealing with extended uses of bare vocatives.

113

Vader/Pappa	komt	zo.
father/daddy	comes	straightaway
i. 'Your daddy will be with you straightaway.'
ii. 'I, your daddy, will be with you straightaway.'
iii. 'My daddy will be with you straightaway.'

Finally, consider the examples in (114). Since the bare noun phrases in (114) are “labels”, like dokter in (109b&c) or vader in (113), it does not seem unreasonable to bring up these examples under the general rubric of vocatives and vocative-like constructions. These bare noun phrases occur in PPs, nominal predicates and argument positions (like the subject).

114

a.		Dit	wordt	besproken	in	(*het)	hoofdstuk vier.
		this	is	discussed	in	the	chapter four

a'.		Dit	is	(*het)	hoofdstuk vier.
		this	is	the	chapter four

b.		Dat	staat	op	(*de)	bladzijde 597.
		that	stands	on	the	page 597

b'.		(*De)	bladzijde 597	ontbreekt.
		the	page 597	is.missing

The bare noun phrases in (114) alternate with the examples in (115) involving ordinal numerals. In these examples, the use of the definite determiner is obligatory since noun phrases containing ordinal numerals do not normally occur in the absence of a determiner.

115

a.		Dit	wordt	besproken	in	*(het)	vierde hoofdstuk.
		this	is	discussed	in	the	fourth chapter

b.		Dat	staat	op	*(de)	597ste pagina.
		that	stands	on	the	597th page

References:

⇑ Back to top

About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Marcel den Dikken

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: Bare NounKinship NounNounProfession NounVocative

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Marcel den Dikken	December 2015

report errorprintcite

Jump to:

introduction
references
related articles