Domineering vocative evolution as socio-cultural phenomenon

Apostrophic address is the most compressed form of expressing a socio-cultural paradigm of sanctioned interpersonal relations. Vocatives quite successfully manifest in concrete lexemes the components of a universal semiotic opposition'ours'/'theirs'. Changes in them signal about social changes and stimulate such changes. The fate of the words господин, гражданин, товарищ - used as official vocatives - provide an opportunity to illustrate some important theoretic concepts, first of all they prove the social nature of language and its immanent ideological character which is made use of by certain groups in their party interests.