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Volume 3 Issue 1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND
June 2016 CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926
The Syntactic Structure of Vocatives in the Christian and Muslim Collects

(prayers):
A Contrastive Study
Asst. Prof. Dr. Rufaidah Kamal Abdulmajeed

English Department-
College of Education for Women- Baghdad University, Iraq
Instructor Dr. Salwa Ibrahim Kamil

Al-Mansour University College, Iraq
Abstract
The vocative in English and Arabic is an obligatory element which must be present in any
collect or du'a'. It is an addressee indicating man's attitude towards or his relationship with
God. This study aims at contrasting the vocative syntactic forms used in the prayers of
invocation in English and Arabic (A prayer of invocation is a prayer asking God to be present
for assistance or be part of a religious service).
The results show that in Arabic the vocative is an iterative element which may be used more
than once throughout a text whereas in English, it is not. It also shows that the syntactic
forms of Arabic and English collects are different.
Keywords: Vocatives, Collects, Prayers, Du’a in Arabic, Sociolinguistics.
:‫التركيب النحوي اللسوو الناا ي االتتال ال هلل ي المسيحية وااللسالم‬

‫درالسة تقلتوية‬
‫و المارس لسووى اتراهيم كلمل‬ ‫االلستلذة المسلعاة ريياة كمل عبا المجيا‬
‫ العراق‬.‫كوية المنصور الجلمعة‬ -‫قسم الوغة االنكويزية – كوية الترتية لوبنلت‬
‫ العراق‬.‫جلمعة تغااد‬
‫ اسلوب النداء باللغتين اإلنكليزية والعربية وهو عنصر مهم وإلزامي يجب أن يكون موجودا في كل دعاء حيث‬:‫الخالصة‬
‫ تتناول هذه الدراسة التقابلية األشكال النحوية المستعملة في أساليب النداء في الصلوات‬.‫انه يشير إلى عالقة االنسان مع هللا‬
.‫واالبتهاالت باللغتين اإلنجليزية والعربية‬
‫تهدف هذه الدراسة الى مقارنة التراكيب النحوية السلوب النداء المستعمل في الدعاء واالبتهال الى هللا ليكون حاضرا مع‬
‫ أظهرت النتائج بأن اسلوب النداء في اللغة العربية يتصف بالتكرار ويمكن‬.‫المبتهل ويحقق له مايدعوا وهو جزء من الصالة‬
‫ وكذلك اظهرت النتائج أن التراكيب‬.‫ بينما اليكون كذلك في اللغة اإلنكليزية‬،‫استخدامه أكثر من مرة على طوال النص‬
.‫النحوية للدعاء في اللغتين العربية واالنكليزية مختلفة عن بعضها البعض‬
http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2248

1. Introduction
The vocative case is considered one of the culture specific rules. It is a clear instance
that shows the social distance and politeness among the participants in the conversation and it
is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed. A vocative expression is an
expression of direct address wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth
expressly within a sentence. For example, in the sentence, "I don't know, John," John is a
vocative expression indicating the party who is being addressed (Vocative case: online).
Lyons (1977: 216-17) states that "names have two characteristic functions: referential
and vocative." The vocative function of names is their being used to attract the attention of the
person being called or summoned. The vocative can be modulated to give additional and
indexical information. Lyons (ibid.: 575) considers many of the non- vocal paralinguistic
phenomena which accompany and are integrated with spoken utterances. They also have the
vocative function of inviting a particular person to play the role of addressee. He (ibid.)
further argues that “names, titles or special terms of address based on social status mey be
used. And in some situations are obligatory, in order to identify the addressee.”
In order to make direct address, the vocative case is used to show that the person to
whom the speaker is speaking is calling him by name.
The interpretation of vocative phrases involves, besides lexical semantics, pragmatic
information, such as the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the addressee, the type
of interaction between them, the speaker’s designs on the addressee, and so on.
This paper aims at contrasting the vocative forms used in the prayers of invocation in
Christianity and Islam (A prayer of invocation is a prayer asking God to be present for
assistance or be part of a religious service). The English Prayers are selected from an internet
website (invocation index) and the Arabic data are taken from the book entitled ‫(الدعاء المستجاب‬
)‫ من الحديث والكتاب الحمد عبد الجواد‬.
A full description of the vocative in both languages has been given. Then, a
comparison between the structural forms used in the invocation praying God in English and
Arabic is made to find the differences and similarities between the structures used in uttering
the vocative structures. This study is a contrastive syntactic analysis of the invocation
structure in both languages.
2. Vocative Case: The Sociolinguistic Functions

Part of the knowledge a fluent speaker of a language must posses is the kind of
knowledge that enable him to produce and understand contextually appropriate utterances in
that language (Lyons, 1977: 573). Therefore, linguistic competence is part of communicative
competence. Over and above the linguistic knowledge, there are general rules which
determine the grammatical, phonological and lexical options within the language system in
particular contexts.
One example of these rules is the speaker’s role: deictic and social. Social role is a
culture-specific role institutionalized in a society and recognized by its members. “The most
obvious effect of social role, as a contextual variable, lies in its determination of terms of
address […]. Social role may determine the selection of personal pronouns and associated
components of the grammatical structure of utterances” (ibid.:575). For instance, the use of
royal first-person plural pronoun by religious men.
Lyons (ibid.) refers to the effect of the social roles played by the participants in the
conversation as culture-specific which lies in the terms of address: doctor, sir, parent when
they are used to indicate the vocative function in English.

Philipsen and Huspek (1985: 94) state that “personal address is a sociolinguistic
subject par excellence” because, as he puts it, these terms of address “reflect the social and
linguistic background of interactants.” People in every language and in every society join
communication exchanges using different means; one of these is called vocative by which the
participants will be addressed, named and described. The way in which the speaker uses a
certain way of addressing others depends on his/her social and linguistic background.
The first who initiate address theory were Roger Brown and Albert Gilman. They are
considered the fathers of this theory who recognized the modern sociolinguistic forms of
address.
In their book, Brown and Gilman (1960) discuss many different uses of vocative
forms which fall within the dimensions of power and solidarity and show the social
background of power of society.
Then Brown and Ford (1961) examine nominal address in American English by
contrasting the use of first name and title plus last name. They pay a great attention to the
linguistic features of the addressee such as the age and professional status in society. And they
further put into their consideration the interpersonal relationship amongst the participants in
the interaction and the degree of intimacy (cited in Formentelli :online).
Braun (1988: 23) emphasizes on the variation in the addressing forms as the rule
rather than exception. These variations depend on different factors such as “regional dialect,
urban vs. rural back-ground, class education, age, sex, ideology, religion” (ibid.). These
factors support one another or interfere with each other.
These rules of addressing, when formulated, take into consideration the speakers’
characteristics and other factors such as gender, age, status, education which are considered
the basis of the variations.
Braun (ibid.:11) distinguishes two types of addressing forms: bound forms and
unbound forms. Bound forms are forms that are an integrated part of the sentence, while
unbound forms are those that are syntactically free which occur in initial or final positions in
the sentences. Pronouns tend to be bound forms which represent the subject or object of the
sentence, while nouns of address tend to be free forms.
Example (1): You, may I have your book?
You in (1) is a pronoun and is used as vocative which provides a large amount of information
and mainly serves as an indicator of the relationship between the speaker and the hearer. The
pronoun in this initial position implies a high degree of directness and a sort of impoliteness.
Example (2): Does the lady have another car?
The lady in (2) is a noun phrase which serves as an indicator of social distance and respect.
This example shows an indirect address strategy. It may be said that vocatives are unbound
items as they share certain characteristics. They are not integrated into the structure of the
clause.
Vocatives, according to specific social factors, are rule-governed choices of speakers.
These social factors give information about the speaker-addressee relationship and about the
speaker evaluation of the addressee and his situation (ibid.). Zwicky (1974: 790) makes major
contributions to the use of forms of address. He classifies these forms into: ‘call vocatives’
which draw the address’s attention, and ‘addressee vocatives’ which maintain the relationship
between speaker and addressee.
From what has been said above, vocatives convey additional information, namely, the
general attitude of the speaker towards the addressee. The speaker estimates his status and the
degree of intimacy and politeness between him and the other partner in the conversation.

Furthermore, the level of formality and the context play an important role in selecting the
appropriate form of address.
These formalities and level of politeness govern the way people address Almighty
God and their selection of the most appropriate phrases which fit the context of addressing
Him.
2.1 Language Forms and Religion

There is a close relationship between language and religious beliefs which has been
clearly recognized throughout the cultural history of mankind. Language is considered as a
means by which the religious themes are spread and received.
Crystal (1965: 112) considers religious language as a register and should not be
confused with the style. Register, as defined by Crystal (1997: 327) refers to “a variety of
language defined according to its use in social situations, e.g. a register of scientific, religious
and formal English.”
Religious language, therefore, is considered as a register. It contains a special way of
expressing beliefs and invocations.
Register, according to Trudgill (1974: 104), is occupational linguistic varieties used by
members of a particular profession or occupation which is characterized by special
vocabulary, for example, language of law, language of medicine, language of engineering,
and language of religion.
Furthermore, religious language does not differ from the non-religious language; they
share the similarity:
a. in forms which human beings commonly speak,
b. in vocabulary. The words used in a religious context are the same as those used in daily
speech,
c. in grammar,
d. in style,
e. Finally, religious language does not differ from non-religious language in the way
German, French, English and Arabic for example, differ from each other. In other
words, there is no translation from religious into English or into common language
(Cochrane: online).
Therefore, religious language is really a language about how people should behave
towards Almighty God and towards each other. It serves as a “regulative ideal” to grant
validity to the ethical imperatives.
Crystal (1965: 151) defines a liturgical language as “a particular set of forms, either a
style or a whole language, used in official public workshop on behalf of a religion.” Religion
and language have a solid relationship since language, being the most flexible tool of
communication, is naturally used to communicate a religion to the people and teach them how
to communicate with God (ibid.: 117).
Crystal and Davy (1969: 147) state that “the kind of language a speech community uses
for the expression of its religious beliefs on public occasions is usually one of the most
distinctive varieties it possesses.”
They (ibid.) conclude that the form and function of religious language are not limited to
those who work in religious fields only, but they are of “more general linguistic interest than
is often realized.”

They (ibid.:161) notice that religious language is characterized by a certain deviation in

the word order within a sentence and clause structure. For example, two adverbials are
coordinated for rhetorical purpose; unexpected reversal, for example, the adverb of manner in
English follows the adverb of place, and the order of direct-indirect object order is reversed.
These kinds of deviations will be noticed during the analysis of the collects (prayers)
of this paper.
3. Vocative Case: The Syntactic Function

3.1 Vocative in English
Apart from the social significance of vocative expressions already discussed in the
previous section of this paper, the current section is concerned with the syntactic structure of
vocatives which is the main concern of this paper.
Quirk and Greenbaum (1973:182) define the vocative as "a nominal element added to
a sentence or clause optionally, denoting the one or more people to whom it is addressed, and
signaling the fact that it is addressed to them."
Example (3): JOHN, I WANT you (vocSVOd )
Example (4): It's a lovely DAY, Mrs. JOHNSON (SVCs voc)
Example (5): YOU, my FRIEND, will have to work HARDER (SvocVA) (ibid.)
In agreement with Braun (1988:11), who names this kind of vocative as ‘unbound’
vocative which means that forms are syntactically free in occurrence whether in initial or final
positions in the sentences, Quirk et al. (1985) as well, show how a vocative may take different
positions in the sentence. It is either initial, medial, or final position in the sentence. It has
variant options and freedom of position. In this case, it is similar to the adverbial than other
elements of a clause structure.
Furthermore, regarding the intonation, as Lyons calls it paralinguistics, the vocative is set
off from the rest of the clause "either by constituting a separate tone-unit or by forming the
post-nuclear part of a tone unit". (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 183)
Quirk et al. (1985: 773) state that the vocative is either a call, drawing the attention of the
person or-persons addressed with the purpose of signaling them out from others in hearing.
Example (6): John, dinner is ready,
Or an address expresses the addresser's relationship or attitude towards the addressee,
Example (7): My back is aching, doctor.
3.1.1 The Forms of the Vocative:

Quirk and Greenbaum (1973:183) classify the forms of the vocative into the following
types:
1- A single name with or without title: ex: John, Mr. John, Dr. Johnson.
2- The personal pronoun you. This form is considered as a type of impolite way of
addressing others who are highly ranked persons. But it is used by friends and by
people who have similar statuses. ex: behave yourself, you.
3- Nouns, which are standard appellatives, usually without pre-or post modification: this
is classified into four types:
a. family relations: mother, father, uncle, or more familiar forms like, mom(my),
mum, dad, auntie.
b. Endearments: (my) darling/dear/honey/love.

c. Title of respect: sir, madam, My lord, Your Excellency, your Majesty, ladies
and gentlemen.
d. Markers of profession or status: doctor, Mr/Madam Chairman, Mr. President,
Mr. Prime Minister, Father (for Priest), Bishop.
4- Nominal clause: Whoever said that, come out here.
5- Items under (1), (2), or (3) above with the addition of modifiers or appositive elements
of various kinds:
a. My dear Mrs. Johnson; young lady Jane
b. You with the red hair, you over there (impolite), informal but not impolite: you
boys, you (young) fellows, you guys.
c. Old man/ fellow (familiar), young man/woman. (ibid.)
Quirk et al. (1985:773) refer to the function of the vocative in English as a means of:
1- Seeking the attention of the person addressed, and to single him out from the others who
may be within hearing.
2- Expressing the attitude of the speaker towards the addressee.
Generally speaking, the vocative is used as a positive mark of attitude, to signal either
respectful distance or familiarity, varied from mild friendliness to intimacy.
3.1.2 The Apposition

In English, there are two types of apposition: non-restrictive, and restrictive. When the
apposition adds to the information of something that has already been identified or when it
completes the identification of something.
The second element in a non-restrictive appositive parenthetically modifies the first
without changing its scope. It is not crucial to the meaning of the sentence. The second
element in a restrictive appositive limits or clarifies the foregoing one in some crucial way.
This is clear in the following phrase: "my friend Alice", "Alice" specifies to which friend the
speaker is referring and is therefore restrictive. On the other hand, in "my wife, a nurse by
training," the parenthetical expression "a nurse by training" does not narrow down the subject,
but rather provides additional information about it; namely, "my wife". In English, non-
restrictive appositives are typically preceded or set off by commas, while restrictive
appositives are not set off by commas.
Not all restrictive clauses are appositives, however, for example, Alice in "Bill's friend
Alice is an appositive noun; Alice in "Bill's friend, whose name is Alice is not an appositive
but it is the predicate of a restrictive clause (Wikipedia:online).
3.2 Vocative in Arabic

Vocative in Arabic is brought about by:
“1- A vocative particle that represents the verb 'call.' For example: ‫( ياا جرجلا لل‬O' man.) and other
four vocative prepositions: ‫ أ‬، ‫ أي‬، ‫ أيا‬، ‫يا‬
2- A vocative can be a proper noun, ‫يا يوسفل‬
3- An intended indefinite noun, ‫( يا ثعلبل‬O' fox.)
4- Non-intended indefinite noun, ‫( يا غافال‬O' unaware person.)
5- Something similar to a prefixed noun and its compliment, ‫( يا عاامال للخيار‬O' worker of good)”
(Vocative: online)
The vocative is put into the accusative state if it is a non-intended indefinite noun, a
prefixed noun, for example: ‫ ياا عبا جد هللا‬, or an intended indefinite noun that is followed by an

adjective, for example:

‫( يا رجال شريفا‬O' dignified man.) (ibid.).
A vocative that has the alif-lām suffix is put in the nominative state and preceded by:
‫ أيُّها‬or ‫ أيتها‬: ‫( يا أيّها المساف لر‬O' traveler.) A demonstrative pronoun, ‫( يا هذا الثعلبل‬O' this fox.)
The word that comes after ‫أيُّهاااااااااا‬ or ‫أيّتهاااااااااا‬ is:
a. a substitute if it is apolistic, ‫يا أيّها ال جرج لل‬
b. an adjective if it is non-apolistic, ‫( يا أيّها الفاضل‬O' honored person.)
Sometimes the word Allah is put into the vocative form by using one of the vocative
particles, for example: ‫ ياا هللال‬or by adding a doubled mīm to the end of Allah, for example: ‫اللهام‬
(ibid.).
Generally speaking, Arabic nouns have three cases; (1) the nominative, (2) accusative,
(3) and genitive.
The vocative particle ‫ ياا‬, is used with singular nouns and, therefore, could be followed
by a proper noun, a title, or an Idaafa, regardless of the gender.
!‫ يا جمديرةج المکتـجبة‬، !‫ يا أستاذ‬، !‫يا سميرةل‬
The plural forms show gender distinction and, therefore, Arabic has ‫ أياـُّها‬for the
masculine and ‫ أيـتاـلها‬for the feminine. The plural vocative should be followed by a noun
with the definite article in the nominative case.
!‫أيُّها المعلمون! أيتـلها المعلمات‬
"The Vocative Particle ‫ ياا‬is used with people only. The noun it is used with becomes
definite, and, therefore, would carry a short vowel without Nunation. !‫ ياا اساتاذ ل‬O, professor
(Jiyad: online).
4. Definitions of ‘Du'a'’ and ‘Collect’

God says in the Quran, “And your lord said pray to me, I will respond to your
‫ال ربُّ ُكم ادع يوِن أ ي‬
invocations” ) ‫ب لَ ُك ْم‬ ْ ُ ْ ُ َ َ َ‫(( َوق‬06 ‫ اآلية‬:‫)سورة غافر‬.
ْ ‫َستَج‬
The Arabic Islamic term Du’a’ is usually used by Muslims means ‘call out’ or to
‘invoke’. It is a humble prayer to Almighty God and one of the greatest acts of worshipping
Him. It is also called supplication and petition to God for the fulfillment of one’s legitimate
desires. Supplication is necessarily done with dedication and totally submission to God for
asking Him a favour. Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) says "Shall I introduce to you a weapon
which will protect you both from the evils of enemies and increase your sustenance? They
said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He replied: Call your Lord day and night, for "Dua" is the
weapon of a believer (Dua: online).
‫ فاسن ساالح الما من‬،‫ تادعون ربكام بالليال والنهاار‬:‫ قاال‬،‫ بلاى‬:‫(أال أدلّكم على سالح ينجيكم من أعدائكم ويد ّر أرزاقكم؟ قالوا‬
.)‫ باب الدعاء‬:‫الدعاء (صحيح البخاري‬
Du'a', is an appeal, invocation (addressed to God) either on behalf of another or for
oneself, or else against someone; hence, prayer of invocation is either for blessing or for
imprecation and cursing.
The characteristic of du'a' in the Qur'nic usage is that it is often taken to be identical
with the worship of God ‫ عباادة‬similar to ‫ ذكار‬. This may be due to the fact that du'a' is a major
form of expression of man's relation to God outside (and inside) the prescribed ritual prayer.
The collect, on the other hand, is identified as a name given to a comparatively short
prayer, more or less condensed in form. Suter (1940: xxix) sees the ‘collect’ as "written
prayer intended primarily to be said aloud on behalf of a worshipping congregation". Usually,

the ‘collect’ is made up of one sentence and expresses a single main thought. However, it is
possible to enlarge the collect without affecting its pattern.
In his paper, Ferguson (1959: 101) aims at showing the continuity of a form of
discourse across a language boundary and through the history of a language. The form of
discourse discussed is the traditional brief prayer "uttered by the minister on behalf of the
congregation near the beginning of the mass, which generally sets the theme for the day or
season being observed” (ibid.: 102). Ferguson observes that from the earliest examples to the
present day, this prayer, called simply prayer (oration), or the collect, has exhibited a very
clear structure of form and content. He identifies the following five parts for each full collect:
a. an invocation, i.e. an address to God
b. a "basis" for petition, i.e. some quality of God or some action attributed to Him.
c. The petition or desire itself;
d. The purpose or reason for making the request, i.e. the good result which would follow
the granting of the petition, and
e. A formulaic ending.
Ferguson provides the following formula to represent the structure of the collect:
“Collect Invocation (+Base) + Petition (+ purpose) + Ending” (Ferguson, 1959: 15)
In this paper, the first part of the prayer, i.e. "an invocation" will be dealt with as a
model of analysis of the data.
5. The Analysis of Data:

5.1 English Collects
The following collects are selected from an internet website under the title (Invocation
Index). It contains collects (brief prayers) in Christianity and Islam translated into English.
These collects contain different types of vocative syntactic structure. The different types will
be marked by bold type. At the end of each collect, the name of the addresser and the
occasion are mentioned.
“Beloved Lord, Almighty God,

Through the Rays of the Sun,
Through the Waves of the Air,
Through the All Pervading Life in Space;
Purify and Revivify Us
And we pray, heal our bodies, hearts, and souls.
Amen
(nayaz - the healing prayer - pir-o-murshid inayat khan)
Beloved, Inmost Heart of every heart,

do not Let our human hearts be broken
by our merely mortal suffering here-
but Make our mortal human hearts break-Free
to an unconditional love of You,
that we may, Thus, love all living beings
with Love's own True, and Truly broken, Heart.
the universal world-prayer - ruchira avatar adi da samrajs

O God, The Giver of Life,

Remover of pains and sorrows,
Bestower of happiness, and
Creator of the Universe;
Thou art luminous, pure and adorable;
We meditate on Thee;.
May Thou inspire and guide
Our intellect in the right direction.
hindu - the gayatri mantra - to the lord sun in the cosmos
God, I offer myself to Thee -

to build with me
and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self,
that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties,
that victory over them may bear witness
to those I would help of Thy Power,
Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.
May I do Thy will always!
alcoholics anonymous - big book - third step prayer - 1939
All mighty Father,

whose way is in the sea
and whose paths are in the great waters
whose command is over all and whose love never faileth:
Let me be aware of Thy presence
and obedient to Thy will.
world war II - naval serviceman
Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God's love commits me here,
ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.
catholic - prayer to the guardian angel
Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,

teach me to serve you as I should,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and ask not for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your most holy will.

(jesuit - st. ignatius loyola - 16th century)
Almighty, Everlasting God,

the Protector of all those who put their trust in Thee:
hear our prayers in behalf of Thy servants
who sail their vessels beneath the seas.
We beseech Thee to keep in Thy sustaining care
all who are in submarines,
that they may be delivered
from the hidden dangers of the deep.
the submariner's prayer - author unknown
Lord God, Giver of Life, Source of all healing,

who alone can help us grow in wholeness:
We thank you for the gift of life and health,
and remembering your faithful servants
Cosmus and Damian
parish prayer - st. cosmus & st. damian in the blean” (Invocation Index: online)
5.1.1 The grammatical structure:

According to Quirk et al. (1985:773) the vocative is an optional element. However,
taken within the framework of the collect, the vocative is one of the three obligatory parts that
constitute the framework of any collect.
Thus, although the vocative is an optional element within other types of functional
varieties (register), it becomes an obligatory element when used in this type of register.
The vocative used in the collect can be looked at as an address expressing man's
relationship with or attitude towards God viz that God is superior and man is inferior. In this
case, pragmatically speaking, address is from Low to High.
From the syntactic point of view, the vocative may consist of:
1- a single noun only
2- a single noun phrase
3- coordinated noun phrase
4- noun plus apposition
5- noun phrase plus apposition which may or may not be preceded by "O".
6- Noun, (parenthetic) noun phrase
Those types are realized in the following examples respectively:

1- God
2- Almighty God
3- O Almighty God and Heavenly Father
4- O Lord God
5- O Immortal Lord God
6- Almighty, Everlasting God,
The invocation may sometimes be preceded by certain elements outside the NP. The
following are the possibilities of these elements:
1- an imperative + (adverbial)
ex. Grant, O Almighty God.

‫‪Volume 3‬‬ ‫‪Issue 1‬‬ ‫‪INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND‬‬
‫‪June‬‬ ‫‪2016‬‬ ‫‪CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926‬‬
‫‪2- Parenthetic expression‬‬

‫‪ex. We (humbly) beseech thee, O Father‬‬
‫‪3- Parenthetic expression + direct object.‬‬
‫‪ex. We yield thee heartily thanks, most merciful Father.‬‬
‫‪4- An imperative + parenthetic‬‬
‫‪ex. Grant, we beseech thee, O heavenly Father‬‬
‫‪5- An imperative + pronominal object.‬‬
‫‪ex. Hear us, Almighty and most Merciful God and Saviour‬‬
‫‪6- An imperative + direct object + parenthetic.‬‬
‫‪ex. Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord.‬‬
‫‪But these types of elements will not be included in the analysis as we are dealing with‬‬
‫‪the vocative structures only.‬‬
‫)‪5.2 Arabic Collects (Invocations‬‬

‫(الدعاء المستجاب من الحديث والكتاب) لم لفه ‪These collects are selected from the Book entitled‬‬
‫‪. The vocative structure appear in the following utterances will marked by bold‬احماد عباد الجاواد‬
‫‪type .‬‬
‫وراض عني‪.‬‬
‫ٍ‬ ‫"يا ربنا لك وجهت وجهي ‪ ،‬فاقبل إليّ بوجهك الكريم واستقبلني بمحض عفوك وكرمك وأنت ضاح ُ‬
‫ك إليَّ‬
‫الوام اهدنا فيمن هديت وعافنا فيمن عافيت وتولنا فيمن توليت وقنا برحمتك واصرف عنا شر ما قضيت انك تقضي وال‬
‫يلقضى عليك‪.‬‬
‫اللهم اقسم لنا من خشيتك ما تحو ُل به بيننا وبين معاصيك ومن طاعتك ما تبلغنا به جنتك ومن اليقين ما تهون به علينا‬
‫مصائب الدنيا ومتعنا اللهم بأسماعنا وأبصارنا وقواتنا أبداً ما أحييتنا واجعله الوارث منا واجعل ثأرنا على َمنْ ظلمنا وال‬
‫تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا وال مبلغ علمنا وال إلى النار مصيرنا واجعل الجنة هي دارنا وال تسلط علينا بذنوبنا منْ ال يخافك‬
‫فينا وال يرحمنا برحمتك يا أرحم الراحمين‪..‬‬
‫اللهم أغننا بحاللك عن حرامك وبطاعتك عن معصيتك وبفضلك عمن سواك يا واسع المغفرة‪.‬‬
‫اللهم نفس كرب المكروبين واقض الدين عن المدينين واشف مرضانا ومرضى المسلمين‬
‫برحمتك يا أرحم الراحمين‪.‬‬
‫اللهم اجعلنا من عتقائك من النار ‪ ،‬اللهم اكتبنا في عليين واجعلنا من المرحومين وال تجعلنا من المحرومين برحمتك يا‬
‫أرحم الراحمين‪ ..‬اللهم إنا نسألك رضاك والجنة ونعوذ بك من سخطك والنار برحمتك يا أرحم الراحمين‪.‬‬
‫يا واسع المغفرة يا غفار يا غافر الذنب يا قابل التوب ‪ ..‬اغفر لي ولوالدي وللمؤمنين يوم يقوم الحساب‪.‬‬
‫ً‬
‫رحمةة عامةة رب اغفةر وارحةم وأنت‬ ‫رب اغفر لي وألمة نبينا سيدنا محمد مغفر ًة عامة وارحمني وارحم أمة سيدنا محمد‬
‫خير الراحمين‪.‬‬
‫ربنا إن تعذبنا فإنا عبادك وإن تغفر لنا فانك أنت العزيز الحكيم‪.‬‬
‫اللهم رب السموا ورب العرش العظيم كن لي جارا من شر فالن ابن فالن وشر الجن واالنس واتبةاعهم وان يفةرط علةي‬
‫احد منهم او ان يطغى‪َّ ،‬‬
‫عز جارك وجل ثناؤك وال اله غيرك‪.‬‬
‫سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أمرتنا بالدعاء ووعدتنا باالستجابة‪ .‬فلك الحمد يا ربنا كما ينبغي لجالل وجهك ولعظيم سلطانك‪.‬‬
‫‪http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index‬‬ ‫‪Page 2258‬‬

‫ بسةةم ل رب األرض‬،‫ بسةةم ل علةةى كةةل شةةيء أعطةةاني ربةةي‬،‫ بسةةم ل علةةى أهلةةي ومةةالي‬، ‫بستتم هللا علةةى نفسةةي ودينةةي‬
.‫ بسم ل الذي ال يضر مع اسمه داء‬،‫والسماء‬
‫أعوذ تكوملت هلل التلملت التي ال يجاوزهن بر وال فاجر من شار ماا قلاق وذرأ ومان شار ماا ينازل مان الساماء ومان شار ماا‬
‫يعرج فيها ومن شر ما ذرأ في األرض ومن شر ما يخرج منها ومان شارفتن الليال والنهاار ومان شار طاوار الليال والنهاار‬
."‫الطار يطر بخير يلرحمن‬
5.2.1 The Grammatical Structure:

The use of the vocative is in cases where the prayer is restricted to ‫ يةا‬+ N, the most
common of which is the use of ‫ يةارب‬or ‫ يةا ل‬when standing up or starting to do something. In
this type of prayer, the request is implied in the context of the prayer in both of its types: the
linguistic context and the context of situation.
Syntactically, the vocative in Arabic is expressed in the form of:
1- )‫ (يا‬+ attribute
2- )‫ (يا‬+N
3- ]‫ [يا‬+ N
4- Prepositional phrase
5- pronoun + (N)
6- ‫ يا‬+ phrasal attribute
These possibilities are realized by the following forms respectively:

1- ‫ يارحمن‬،‫ يا قيوم‬، ‫ياحي‬
2- ‫ يا ربنا‬،‫يا ل‬
3- ‫ اللهم‬،‫ ]يا[ رب‬،‫]يا[ ل‬
4- ‫ بكلمات ل التامات‬،‫بسم ل‬
5- ‫سبحانك‬
6- ‫ يا ذا الجود والكرم‬،‫ ياذا الفضل العظيم‬،‫ياباسط اليدين بالعطايا‬

6. Results and Discussion

The contrastive study in this paper shows the following differences and similarities:
1- Invocation is an obligatory element in both English and Arabic prayer.
2- Both in English and Arabic, the vocative is an addressee indicating man's attitude
towards or his relationship with God. It is an obligatory element which must be
present in any collect or du'a'.
3- In Arabic, the vocative is an iterative element which may be used more than once
throughout a text, whereas, in English, it is not.
4- Syntactically, the vocative is realized in English by the use of :
a. Noun
b. Noun Phrase
c. Coordinated noun phrases,
d. Noun + Apposition
e. Noun Phrase + Apposition
f. Noun Phrase,(parenthesized) +Noun Phrase,
which may or may not be preceded by 'O'. In Arabic, on the other hand, the vocative
may take the form of
a. ‫ يا‬+ attribute,
b. ‫ يا‬+ Noun,
c. [‫ ]يا‬+ Noun,
d. pronoun. + (Noun),
e. ‫ يا‬+ phrasal attribute, or
f. Prepositional phrase.
5- Apposition exists in the invocation of brief prayers of both English and Arabic. In
English, these instances of apposition are of the type full-strict-restrictive, whereas in
Arabic they are of the type full-strict-nonrestrictive.
6- Lexically, the vocative is expressed through the use of a number of nouns referring to
the Deity. God, Lord, Father, in English. In Arabic, ، ‫ اللهم‬،‫ هللا‬،‫ رب‬، ‫ ربنا‬are the most
frequently used nouns.

7. Conclusion
Different cultures use different vocatives as a means of showing social distance and
politeness between the partners in a conversation. The vocative is a case of using a noun
identifying the person addressed. Invocation is an obligatory element in both English and
Arabic prayer. Both in English and Arabic, the vocative is an addressee indicating man's
attitude toward God and it is an obligatory element which must be present in any collect or
du'a'.
This research shows that invocation in Arabic and the vocative are an iterative elements
which may be used more than once throughout a text, whereas, in English it seems that it is
used once in the opening sentence of the invocation. Syntactically, the vocative is realized in
English by the use of many different forms the same as in Arabic with little similarities and
differences.

References
Braun F. (1988) Terms of address: Problems of Patterns and Usage in Various Languages
and Cultures. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Brown, R. and Ford, Marguerite (1961) ‘Address in American English,’

The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 62 (2), pp 375-385.
Brown, R. and Gilman, A. (1960) ‘The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity.’ In Sebeok, T. A.
(ed.), Style in Language. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, pp 253-276.
Crystal, D. (1965) Linguistics, Language and Religion. (Faith and facts books: 131) London:
Burns & Oates: Hawthorn Books Inc.,
Crystal, D. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 4ed. Oxford: Blackwell

Publishers Ltd.
Crystal, D. and D. Davy (1969) Investigating English Style. London: Longman.
Ferguson, Charles A. (1959) ‘Diglossia’ Word. 15: 325-340. Reprinted In Dell Hymes (ed.)
Language in Culture and Society, (1964). New York: Harper and Rew Publishers, pp.
429-439.
Lyons, John (1977) Semantics. (Vol. 1 &2) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Philipsen, G., and M. Huspek. (1985) ‘A bibliography of sociolinguistic studies of personal ad-dress.’
Anthropological Linguistics, 27, pp 94-101.
Quirk, Randolph and Sideny Greenbaum. (1973) A University Grammar of English. London:
Longman.
Quirk, Randolph, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik. (1985) A Comprehensive

Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
Suter, John W. (1940) The Book of English Collect. New York: Harper and Brother
Publishers.
Trudgill, Peter (1974). Sociolinguistics. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth
Zwicky, Arnold. (1974). “Hey, Whatsyourname!” In Michael La Galy, Robert A. Fox, and
Anthony Bruck (eds.), Papers from the Tenth Regional Meeting of the Chicago
Linguistics Society, Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society, pp787–801.
Websites:

Cochrane, James, Stephen Martin and Gillian Walters. Constructing a Language of Religion
in Public Life.
http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/ricsa/me99/
Dua: Supplication and Invocation in Islam, Supplication Meaning, Supplication Definition

http://www.ezsoftech.com/stories/mis8.asp
retrieved on 19.5.2015
Formentelli, Maicol. The vocative mate in contemporary English: a corpus- based study.
http://www.academia.edu/11485430/The_vocative_mate_in_contemporary_English_A_corpu
s_based_study
retreived on 18.5.2015
Jiyad, Mohammed. A Hundred and One Rules!A Short Reference for Arabic Syntactic,
Morphological & Phonological Rules for Novice & Intermediate Levels of Proficiency. Spring
2009
www.mtholyoke.edu/.../Arabic%20Grammar%20
Invocation index
http://www.worldprayers.org/archive/prayers/invocations/beloved_lord_almighty_god.html
Vocative case
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Vocative_case.html
Vocative
http://www.al-islam.org/elementary-arabic-syntax-2-rashid-al-shartuni/vocative
Wikipedia on line.
Retrieved on 20.12.2013
‫القرآن الكريم‬
‫ الدعاء المستجاب من الحديث والكتاب‬. ‫ أحمد‬،‫عبد الجواد‬
‫صحيح البخاري‬

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Volume 3 Issue 1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND

June 2016 CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926

The Syntactic Structure of Vocatives in the Christian and Muslim Collects

Asst. Prof. Dr. Rufaidah Kamal Abdulmajeed

Instructor Dr. Salwa Ibrahim Kamil

Keywords: Vocatives, Collects, Prayers, Du’a in Arabic, Sociolinguistics.

:‫التركيب النحوي اللسوو الناا ي االتتال ال هلل ي المسيحية وااللسالم‬

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2248

2. Vocative Case: The Sociolinguistic Functions

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2249

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2250

2.1 Language Forms and Religion

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2251

They (ibid.:161) notice that religious language is characterized by a certain deviation in

3. Vocative Case: The Syntactic Function

3.1.1 The Forms of the Vocative:

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2252

3.1.2 The Apposition

3.2 Vocative in Arabic

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2253

adjective, for example:

4. Definitions of ‘Du'a'’ and ‘Collect’

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2254

“Collect Invocation (+Base) + Petition (+ purpose) + Ending” (Ferguson, 1959: 15)

5. The Analysis of Data:

“Beloved Lord, Almighty God,

Beloved, Inmost Heart of every heart,

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2255

O God, The Giver of Life,

God, I offer myself to Thee -

All mighty Father,

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2256

(jesuit - st. ignatius loyola - 16th century)

Almighty, Everlasting God,

Lord God, Giver of Life, Source of all healing,

5.1.1 The grammatical structure:

Those types are realized in the following examples respectively:

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2257

‫‪2- Parenthetic expression‬‬

‫)‪5.2 Arabic Collects (Invocations‬‬

‫‪http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index‬‬ ‫‪Page 2258‬‬

5.2.1 The Grammatical Structure:

These possibilities are realized by the following forms respectively:

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2259

6. Results and Discussion

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2260

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2261

Brown, R. and Ford, Marguerite (1961) ‘Address in American English,’

Crystal, D. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 4ed. Oxford: Blackwell

Crystal, D. and D. Davy (1969) Investigating English Style. London: Longman.

Quirk, Randolph, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik. (1985) A Comprehensive

Trudgill, Peter (1974). Sociolinguistics. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2262

Dua: Supplication and Invocation in Islam, Supplication Meaning, Supplication Definition

http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2263

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