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John : The meeting will be important for me so I can’t leave it.
Don’t worry. We will have dinner tomorrow. John contacts his wife, Katharine, by phone. He tells he can not have dinner
with his wife by commencing his words with a non-referential calling “Darling” which extends his affection to his wife. Here, the speaker performs a perlocutionary
act of association by performing an illocutionary act of calling the hearer by those in- group terms, which brings about a perlocutionary effect on the hearer such that the
hearer feels relieved.
f. Dissociative Non-referential Calling
Similar to associative non-referential calling, dissociative non-referential calling is also used to catch the hearer’s attention. According to Kubo, whenever a
speaker employs dissociative non-referential calling, he performs a perlocutionary act of dissociation by performing an illocutionary act of calling the hearer by an out-
group term which brings about perlocutionary effects on the hearer such that his honor is disgraced. This means that a vocative can be called a dissociative non-
referential calling if it contains an illocutionary act of calling the hearer with out- group terms and it hence contains a perlocutionary act of dissociation which brings
about a perlocutionary effect such that the hearer’s honor is disgraced. There are two points which are necessary to explain. Firstly, similar to
associative non-referential calling, the vocative in dissociative non-referential calling should contain an illocutionary act of calling besides containing other illocutionary
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acts whenever a speech act is employed. Secondly, since the vocative is included as non-referential out-group members, it contains a perlocutionary act of dissociation.
According to Kubo, perlocutionary act of dissociation includes perlocutionary acts performed concomitantly with an illocutionary act via out-group terms. In
dissociative non-referential calling, the vocative is treated as if the hearer is not a member of the group the speaker belongs to. In addition, dissociative non-referential
calling brings about perlocutionary effects to the hearer such that his honor is disgraced.
Example: Thomas
: seeing his lover is coming what a surprise. Thomas’s lover
: Hey you cruel monster, how dare you try to sweet talk me after forgetting our date last night.
Thomas : I am sorry, but I …
Thomas’s lover : You had better take me out tonight or I’ll break you
up. Thomas’s lover feels disappointed to Thomas since he forgets their dating.
Thomas’s lover hence performs a perlocutionary act of dissociation by performing an illocutionary act of calling her lover as “cruel monster” which is included as out-
group term. The act brings about a perlocutionary effect on Thomas such that he feels disgusted.
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g. Associative Non-referential Addressing
