Editing Vocative case (section)

===Germanic languages===
====English====
{{See also|Apostrophe (figure of speech)}}
{{Wiktionary|O#Particle}}

The vocative is not a grammatical case in English. Expressions for which the vocative would be used in languages which have that case, are nominative in English. In translations of languages that use the vocative case, translators have added the [[Particle (grammar)|particle]] "O" before the noun, as is often seen in the [[King James Version]] of the [[Bible]]: for example the Greek ''ὀλιγόπιστοι'', vocative masculine plural, (in [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 8:26) is translated "O ye of little faith". While it is not strictly archaic, it is sometimes used to "archaeise" speech; it is often seen as very formal, and sees use in rhetoric and poetry, or as a comedic device to subvert modern speech.  Another example is the recurrent use of the phrase "O (my) Best Beloved" by [[Rudyard Kipling]] in his ''[[Just So Stories]]''. The use of ''O'' may be considered a form of [[clitic]] and should not be confused with the interjection ''oh''.<ref>''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', 15th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-226-10403-6|}}, s. 5.197.</ref> However, as the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] points out, "O" and "oh" were originally used interchangeably.

Modern English commonly uses the objective case for vocative expressions but sets them off from the rest of the sentences with pauses as interjections, rendered in writing as commas (the '''vocative comma'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is the Vocative Comma? Definition, Examples in the Vocative Case |url=https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/vocative-comma |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Writing Explained |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-06 |title=Hello, vocative comma |url=https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/hello-vocative-comma |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Macmillan Dictionary Blog |language=en-US}}</ref>). Two common examples of vocative expressions in English are the phrases "Mr. President" and "Madam Chairwoman".{{Clarify|reason=needs examples??|date=June 2024}}

Some traditional texts use ''Jesu'', the Latin vocative form of ''Jesus''. One of the best-known examples is ''[[Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring]]''.

====German dialects====
In some [[German dialects]], like the [[Ripuarian language|Ripuarian]] dialect of [[Cologne]], it is common to use the (gender-appropriate) article before a person's name. In the vocative phrase then the article is, as in Venetian and Catalan, omitted. Thus, the determiner precedes nouns in all cases except the vocative. Any noun not preceded by an article or other determiner is in the vocative case. It is most often used to address someone or some group of living beings, usually in conjunction with an imperative construct. It can also be used to address dead matter as if the matter could react or to tell something astonishing or just happening such as "Your nose is dripping."<!-- There is one partial exception in some Ripuarian languages: god/Jesus; but though it is required to not use no determiner to talk
about God acting (''{{lang|ksh|Jott hät jesaat&nbsp;...}}'' God said...), it is much more convenient talk about God in the third person: ''{{lang|ksh|der leeve Jott hät jesaat&nbsp;...}}'' (the dear God said...) -->

[[Colognian dialect|Colognian]] examples:
{| class="wikitable"
|{{lang|ksh|Do es der Päul — Päul, kumm ens erövver!}}
|There is Paul. Paul, come over [please]!
|-
|''{{lang|ksh|Och do leeven Kaffepott, do bes jo am dröppe!}}''
|O [my] dear coffee pot, you are dripping!
|-
|''{{lang|ksh|„Pääde, jooht loufe!“ Un di Pääde jonn loufe.}}''
|"Horses, run away!" And the horses are running away.
|}

====Icelandic====
The vocative case generally does not appear in [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], but a few words retain an archaic vocative declension from Latin, such as the word {{lang|is|[[wikt:Jesús#Icelandic|Jesús]]}}, which is {{lang|is|Jesú}} in the vocative. That comes from Latin, as the Latin for Jesus in the nominative is {{lang|la|Jesus}} and its vocative is {{lang|la|Jesu}}.
That is also the case in traditional English (without the accent) (see [[#English|above]]):
{{wiktionary|ó#Icelandic}} 
{| class="wikitable"
!Nominative
|{{lang|is|'''Jesús''' elskar þig.}}
|Jesus loves you.
|-
!Vocative
|{{lang|is|Ó '''Jesú''', frelsari okkar.}}
|O Jesus, our saviour.
|}
The native words {{lang|is|[[wikt:sonur#Icelandic|sonur]]}} {{gloss|son}} and {{lang|is|[[wikt:vinur#Icelandic|vinur]]}} {{gloss|friend}} also sometimes appear in the shortened forms {{lang|is|son}} and {{lang|is|vin}} in vocative phrases. Additionally, adjectives in vocative phrases are always weakly declined, but elsewhere with proper nouns, they would usually be declined strongly:
{| class="wikitable"
!strong adjective, full noun
|{{lang|is|Kær '''vinur''' er gulli betri.}}
|A dear friend is better than gold.
|-
!weak adjective, shortened noun
|{{lang|is|Kæri '''vin''', segðu mér nú sögu.}}
|Dear friend, tell me a story.
|}

====Norwegian====
Nouns in [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] are not inflected for the vocative case, but adjectives qualifying those nouns are; adjectival [[adjunct (linguistics)|adjuncts]] [[grammatical modifier|modifying]] vocative nouns are inflected for the [[definite]] (see: [[Norwegian language#Adjectives]]).<ref name=Halmøy>{{cite book |last=Halmøy |first=Madeleine |year=2016| title=The Norwegian Nominal System: a Neo-Saussurean Perspective |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH |isbn=978-3-11-033963-5 |doi=10.1515/9783110363425 }}</ref>{{rp|223–224}} The definite and plural inflections are in most cases identical, so it is more easily observable with adjectives that inflect for plural and definite differently, e.g. {{lang|no|[[wikt:liten#Norwegian Bokmål|liten]]}} being {{lang|no|lille}} when definite, but {{lang|no|små}} when plural, an instance of [[suppletion]].<ref name=Halmøy />{{rp|116}}
{| class="wikitable"
!Non-vocative
!Vocative
!English translation
|-
|{{lang|no|kjær venn}}
|{{lang|no|kjær'''e''' venn}}
|dear friend
|-
|{{lang|no|vis mann}}
|{{lang|no|vis'''e''' mann}}
|wise man
|-
|{{lang|no|liten katt}}
|{{lang|no|'''lille''' katt}}
|little cat
|}

In several Norwegian dialects, north of an [[isogloss]] running from [[Oslo]] to [[Bergen]], [[name]]s in [[argument (linguistics)|argument]] position are associated with [[proprial articles]], e.g. gendered [[pronoun]]s such as {{lang|no|han}} {{gloss|he}} or {{lang|no|hun}} {{gloss|she}}, which either precede or follow the noun in question.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johannesen |first1=Janne Bondi |last2=Garbacz |first2=Piotr| title=Proprial articles |journal=Nordic Atlas of Language Structures |year=2014 |volume=1 |pages=10–17 |doi=10.5617/nals.5362 |publisher=University of Oslo |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/58250/Proprial+articles.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129142717/https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/58250/Proprial+articles.pdf |archive-date=2020-11-29 |url-status=live }}</ref> This is not the case when in vocative constructions.<ref>{{cite web |last=Håberg |first=Live |title=Den preproprielle artikkelen i norsk: ei undersøking av namneartiklar i Kvæfjord, Gausdal og Voss |trans-title=The preproprial article in Norwegian: a study of nominal articles in Kværfjord, Gausdal and Voss |language=no |year=2010 |pages=26–28 |quote=Ved personnamn i vokativ [...] vil den preproprielle artikkelen ikkje bli brukt. |publisher=[[University of Oslo]] |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/26729/haberg_master.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129143134/https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/26729/haberg_master.pdf |archive-date=2020-11-29 |url-status=live |hdl=10852/26729 }}</ref>