[lit-ideas] Re: vocative particles

Oh well. I asked because for reasons now unknown to me I volunteered some 
time ago to do a short piece on vocative articles for our school Arabic 
newsletter and thought that a comparison with vocative particles in English 
would be a good starting point. Clearly I was very wrong and need a 
different approach altogether (not writing the piece at all springs 
immediately to mind).

That aside, Robert says (I think) that if a particle is not dedicated 
exclusively to a vocative function, it can't formally be a vocative 
particle. To my untrained eye, this position is contradicted by JL's OED 
entry, which seems to have no problem attributing more than one function to 
the same grammatical entity, as in: "Lithuanian o, vocative particle, 
expression of surprise or emotion" etc.

On the other hand - on the Arabic side of the house and in Robert's favor - 
it does seem that all seven of Arabic's vocative particles do have an 
exclusive function and cannot be used for any other purpose than vocating.

I found interesting the word order reversal in Scots 'O' usage noted in JL's 
info and it instantly made me think of that bizarre Burns song about rushes, 
which has always generated a single pressing question in my mind, i.e.: 
What's with the O, dude?

(Green grow the rushes, O;
Green grow the rushes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent among the lasses, O.)

Mike says:

>Wow. I was only aware of Ya.

Yes, seven formal vocative articles. Two for hailing those near to you and 
three for calling to those far away. The all-purpose Ya can be used to hail 
in the near, far and middle distance, which presumably is why it has stuck 
around. The seventh is the particle of lamentation - waw-alif before the 
hailed noun with alif-ha stuck on the end of it. I believe you're supposed 
to use it to address either a beloved dead someone (wa JFK-ah or wa dead 
parent-ah etc) or the emotion or state of things afflicting you (wa pain-ah, 
wa grief-ah, wa Arabic-ah, wa IRS-ah etc). Tunis is lovely, thanks - 
although the weather strikes us as very un-Mediterranean at the moment - 8 
Centigrade and snow in outlying hills.

Good to hear from you, Julie! Hope the young ones are treating you right. I 
now share my life with a 13 year old and a 4 year old as well as with Arabic 
and so spend most of my time staggering around in a fog of total 
incomprehension - not the best atmosphere for writing poems, perhaps. I hope 
the Sunday poet still with us, though.

All best to all, Mirembe




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