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In:“You can say you to me”: Address in German
Edited by Heinz L. Kretzenbacher, Horst J. Simon and Christa Dürscheid
[Topics in Address Research 7] 2026
► pp. 157–175

Chapter 8
Addressing others by name in digital communication

An interactional perspective on vocatives in dyadic WhatsApp chats

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This chapter explores the use of onymic vocatives in informal text-based WhatsApp chats. Based on an interactional analysis of 108 extracts from dyadic German chats, it shows that vocatives are used systematically in this digital environment and recur in specific positions within both postings and sequences, a feature largely overlooked in previous research. Depending on their position, vocatives serve different communicative functions, including interaction organization and relationship building. Overall, by establishing a direct connection to the interlocutor, vocatives play a pivotal role in a communicative ecology that differs considerably from face-to-face interaction in terms of both the proximity and depth of the lived experience of others (Schutz & Luckmann 1974: 65).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background: Nominal address terms in digital interactions
    • 2.1The use of nominal address forms in digital environments
    • 2.2Text-based messenger communication as an environment
      for addressing practices
  • 3.Methodical framework and data
  • 4.Discourse functions of onymic address in German WhatsApp chats
    • 4.1Posting-initial uses of vocatives
    • 4.2Posting-constitutive uses of vocatives
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Note
  • References
References (58)
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