What is a rhetorical question?

Definition
	A rhetorical question is an illocutionary act that
	has the direct illocutionary force of a question, and is not generally used with the expectation of an answer but with some different, indirect force, such as a command a tentative statement, and an evaluation.

Generic
	A rhetorical question is a kind of
	What is indirect illocution?

Sources
	Quirk 1972 825
	Larson 1984 235–236
	Corbett 1971 488–489
	Beekman and Callow 1974 229
	Mish 1991 1011

Context for this page:

Concept module: rhetorical question
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): R
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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