Serbo-Croatian Split Vocatives: Class Change via Lexicalization

Abstract

Serbo-Croatian (SC) is a language with a rich case morphology and a complex and specific lexical prosody. Its case system consists of three main declension classes with seven cases, each interacting with the value of number. It displays pitch-accent lexical prosody: a system combining tone and stress (Zec 1999). SC morphology and prosody interact in complex ways, as discussed in Arsenijević 2010 and Simonović and Arsenijević 2014. Vocatives of certain SC nouns occur with two different prosodic patterns: one faithful to the base, in the sense that it corresponds to a prosodic pattern displayed by at least one other case form, and another that receives the default prosodic pattern (a falling accent on the initial syllable). The former is restricted to indefinite contexts, and the latter to definite ones. I propose an analysis in terms of lexicalization, whereby definite vocatives of common nouns lexicalize into the equivalent of proper names. As a result, they are associated with the respective declension classes of proper names and take their prosodic pattern as well. The indefinite form, which is very rarely used, is derived productively and thus displays the prosodic pattern of the base. Section 2 presents empirical details, section 3 proposes an analysis, and section 4 elaborates on its lexical and prosodic aspects.