How did an Athenian citizen address his wife, his children, his dog? How did they address him? The only evidence we have is in the form of written texts, but how close are these to spoken ancient Greek? Based on a corpus of 11,891 vocatives from 25 authors, Dickey uses sociolinguistic techniques and evidence to answer these questions.

"...it was a pleasure to browse and read D's book. It is impossible to do justice to the wealth of information contained in it and to the thoroughness of D's investigation in this review. I have looked in vain for errors and misprints....so reader, get it for your library before it is too late!"

"Among the book's very many merits is the author's clarity about her intentions and results.... The book deserves a place beside such works as Denniston's Particles on the shelves of all who love and wish to understand better the delectable intricacies of the Greek language."

Eleanor Dickey, Assistant Professor of Greek, University of Ottawa