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 and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same...

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Main Author: Džemal Špago
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)
Subjects:
Online Access:http://exell.untz.ba/index.php/exell/article/view/50
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author Džemal Špago
author_facet Džemal Špago
author_sort Džemal Špago
collection DOAJ
description 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.
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publisher University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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series ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)
spelling doaj-art-d763f0cc97a8499a8a4a87ca7ffdaaa42025-08-20T03:05:02ZengUniversity of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)2303-48582025-01-0142Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?Džemal Špago0Univerzitet Džemal Bijedić, Mostar 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. http://exell.untz.ba/index.php/exell/article/view/50rhetorical questionindicators of rhetorical questionspolarity itemssemantic incompatibility
spellingShingle Džemal Špago
Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)
rhetorical question
indicators of rhetorical questions
polarity items
semantic incompatibility
title Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
title_full Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
title_fullStr Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
title_full_unstemmed Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
title_short Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?
title_sort rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions
topic rhetorical question
indicators of rhetorical questions
polarity items
semantic incompatibility
url http://exell.untz.ba/index.php/exell/article/view/50
work_keys_str_mv AT dzemalspago rhetoricalquestionsorrhetoricalusesofquestions