Politicians Misusing Noun Phrases in Vocative Function

Think about conversations you have with one other person, and whether you use their name and if so, why you use it. At first blush I'd say when I wanted to stress a point or let my addressee know I was a bit narked. But I do love you, er, Geraldine. Or I've already told you twice, Fred.

I'm wondering why the politicians I hear being interviewed on the Today programme use an interviewer's first name so much, and why I find it so annoying.

According to Huddleston and Pullum, the use of a proper name in this way is the vocative function. It can include substitution - darling is the most obvious example.

"Vocatives can be used to call someone (Kim, dinner's ready!), to attract their attention, to single out one person among a group as the addressee, and so on. It will be clear that from the above survey, however, that vocative terms generally convey a considerable amount about the speaker's social relations or emotive attitude towards the addressee, and their primary or sole purpose is often to give expression to this kind of meaning, as in Yes, sir! or I agree, my dear, that it's quite a bargain.

A vocative can stand alone without any sense of ellipsis, and for this reason cannot be regarded as a dependent of the verb. It is best regarded as a kind of interpolation - one that can appear, like certain adjuncts, in front, central or end position."

(Huddleston 523)

Huddleston Pullum 2002 The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language Cambridge University Press Cambridge