Analysis of the vocative's rhetorical effect and its implications for emotional distance and expression.
The conventions of the vocative may be broken for rhetorical effect: close-by addressees may be addressed as if they are far away, and vice-versa, to denote physical or emotional distance from the communicator. The vocative may also be used to introduce the expression of regret, lamentation, sarcasm or rebuke.
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Mandar Marathe (2025) studied this question.
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