<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same questions can be rhetorical in one context, and answer-eliciting in another, some of them are more likely to be associated with rhetorical or non-rhetorical use. The analysis is based on extensive data (over 1200 examples of rhetorical questions taken from 30 plays by two British and two American writers), and the results are expected to give an insight into whether we can talk about rhetorical questions or just a rhetorical use of questions.</p></abstract>

This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same questions can be rhetorical in one context, and answer-eliciting in another, some of them are more likely to be associated with rhetorical or non-rhetorical use. The analysis is based on extensive data (over 1200 examples of rhetorical questions taken from 30 plays by two British and two American writers), and the results are expected to give an insight into whether we can talk about rhetorical questions or just a rhetorical use of questions.

Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

ExELL

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?"}

This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting...

Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

Published Online: Dec 21, 2017

Page range: 102 - 115

Received: Aug 30, 2017

Accepted: Nov 03, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/exell-2017-0009

Keywords
rhetorical question, indicators of rhetorical questions, polarity items, semantic incompatibility

© 2016 Džemal Špago, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

Published Online: Dec 21, 2017

Page range: 102 - 115

Received: Aug 30, 2017

Accepted: Nov 03, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/exell-2017-0009

Keywordsrhetorical question, indicators of rhetorical questions, polarity items, semantic incompatibility

© 2016 Džemal Špago, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
rhetorical question, indicators of rhetorical questions, polarity items, semantic incompatibility