Dynamics of vocatives in American, Russian and British political communication

The paper analyses dynamic aspects of the vocative system in American, Russian and British political communication. The research considers inaugural addresses of the presidents of the USA (1789-2017), those of the presidents of the Russian Federation (1991-2012), Coronation speeches of British monarchs (1937 and 1953) as a special genre of political discourse. Vocatives used in these addresses and speeches are a source of linguistic analysis which reveals typological differences and similarities in American, Russian and British communication. The author characterizes linguistic-cultural peculiarities of political discourse of the USA, Russia and the United Kingdom. The author proves that status terms of address predominate in comparison to emotive ones in American and Russian presidents’ political discourse; British monarchs usually omit forms of address in the epideictic genre discussed in the paper. The American presidents use various vocatives (special status vocatives and general status terms of address) in comparison to those used in inaugural addresses of the presidents of the Russian Federation (special status vocatives); the British monarchs use zero vocatives in the Coronation speeches. Functions of vocatives used in the addresses and speeches in question (appellative, contact-establishing and attitude-characterizing) contribute to shortening a social status distance between the leaders of the countries and addressees.