Vocative words and vocative sentences in Azerbaijani

The article examines the lexical-semantic and syntactic characteristics of vocative words and vocative sentences in Azerbaijani. Its purpose is to distinguish these units and identify the features governing their use in discourse. Descriptive and comparative analysis differentiates inherent vocative words from situational vocatives and to clarify their relationship with the addressee. Vocative sentences are compared with forms of address, nominal, exclamatory, elliptical and one-member sentences. Particular attention is paid to intonation, context and communicative intention as factors shaping utterance meaning. The discussion considers how proper names, common nouns, pronouns and other parts of speech may acquire an independent expressive function. Such constructions may convey warnings, reminders, reproach, regret, surprise and emotional evaluation. The findings support a distinction between the lexical character of vocative words and the syntactic status of vocative sentences. Similarities in their outward form do not imply identical structures, discourse functions or means of conveying the speaker's attitude.