![Can rhetorical questions function as retorts? [An article from: Journal of Pragmatics]](https://www.ebooknetworking.net/books/B00/0RR/bigB000RR2U4A.jpg)
Can rhetorical questions function as retorts? [An article from: Journal of Pragmatics]
Book Details
Author(s)D. Schaffer
PublisherElsevier
ISBN / ASINB000RR2U4A
ISBN-13978B000RR2U44
AvailabilityAvailable for download now
Sales Rank11,935,936
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Pragmatics, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
While the literature on rhetorical questions (RQs) is quite extensive, one type has received virtually no attention: the RQ used in response to a preceding question and whose answer is to be recognized as precisely the same as the first question's (called here the RQ-as-retort). An analysis of 178 RQ tokens suggests certain structural and semantic patterns, as well as common functions, some of which differ from those of other RQ types: question words and question type (yes-no or wh-) usually match between prompting and responding questions; most yes-no RQs rely on the semantic property of syntheticity, though several employ analyticity; and while all RQs seem to be used specifically to imply that the answer to the prompting question should have been obvious to the asker, many are also clearly exploited in different ways to create humor. Further study of these RQs should broaden understanding of RQ variety and uses, especially in conversation.
Description:
While the literature on rhetorical questions (RQs) is quite extensive, one type has received virtually no attention: the RQ used in response to a preceding question and whose answer is to be recognized as precisely the same as the first question's (called here the RQ-as-retort). An analysis of 178 RQ tokens suggests certain structural and semantic patterns, as well as common functions, some of which differ from those of other RQ types: question words and question type (yes-no or wh-) usually match between prompting and responding questions; most yes-no RQs rely on the semantic property of syntheticity, though several employ analyticity; and while all RQs seem to be used specifically to imply that the answer to the prompting question should have been obvious to the asker, many are also clearly exploited in different ways to create humor. Further study of these RQs should broaden understanding of RQ variety and uses, especially in conversation.
