XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

A rhetorical question is a question (such as "How could I be so stupid?") that's asked merely for effect with no answer expected. The answer may be obvious or immediately provided by the questioner.Rhetorical questions can be used as an effective communication tool during a speech. These questions provide you with a way of controlling the speech and thoughts of the audience. According to Galperin, the rhetorical question is a special syntactical stylistic device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence. In other words, the question is no longer a question but a statement expressed in the form of an interrogative sentence. Thus there is an interplay of two structural meanings:

1) that of the question
2) that of the statement (either affirmative or negative).
Both are materialized simultaneously.
Examples :
«Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?» (H. L. Mencken)
«If practice makes perfect, and nobody’s perfect, why practice?» (Kurt Cobain)
«If you prick us, do we not bleed ? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?» (William Shakespeare)
«-Dr. Cameron: Why did you hire me? -Dr. House: Does it matter?
-Dr. Cameron: Kind of hard to work for a guy who doesn't respect you.
-Dr. House: Why?
-Dr. Cameron: Is that rhetorical ?
-Dr. House: No, it just seems that way because you can't think of an answer.» (House, M.D.)

Functions of rhetorical questions:
Rhetorical questions are a useful technique in persuasive writing. As there is nobody to answer the question, a rhetorical question is usually designed to speak directly to the reader. It allows the reader a moment to pause and think about the question. For that reason, they are effective in hooking a reader’s interest and making them think about their own response to the question in hand.

Rhetorical question engage the audience and pause after it – allow them to think of an answer. This gets the audience to actively participate rather than passively listen as they create hypotheses or resolutions.

Rhetorical questions are most often used in publicistic style and particularly in oratory, where the rousing of emotions is the effect generally aimed at.
Rhetorical questions are divided into:
Anthypophora is a rhetorical term for the practice of asking oneself a question and then immediately answering it. Also called the figure of response and hypophora.
«The relationship between anthypophora and hypophora is confusing,» says Gregory Howard. «Hypophora is seen as the statement or question. Anthypophora as the immediate reply» (Dictionary Of Rhetorical Terms, 2010).
Hypophora is a rhetorical term for a strategy in which a speaker or writer poses a question, and then answers that question immediately. The basic difference between hypophora and a rhetorical question is that, in a rhetorical question, the answer is not provided by the writer, since it does not require an answer.
Example: «What made me take this trip to Africa? There is no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse and pretty soon they were too complicated.» In this passage, the writer asks the question and immediately explains. This creates a rhetorical effect, which lies in providing the answer that readers might expect to be given by a writer.
Epiplexis is a specific kind of rhetorical question in which a lament or an insult is asked as a question, mainly to upbraid, reproach, and not to elicit information or answer,usually in this form:
«Why will you say to me such hurtful thing?»

«What’s the point you keep doing this?»

«Why are you so mad?» etc,.
The Epiplexis, as a rhetorical figure, seeks to convince and move by an elegant kind of upbraiding. It basically, throws a question, not aiming to obtain an answer but to make a point or rebuke another person’s viewpoint.

Erotesis is a rhetorical figure, which consists when the speaker adopts a kind of interrogation, primarily not to express a doubt, but ironically and confidently asserting the reverse of the statement. Erotesis is considered to be a vehicle through which the emotion of the mind is expressed, as it is known to injects a texture of passion and energy into the discourse by proposing questions.It becomes figurative, when the same thing may be expressed in a direct manner: but in putting it by way of question gives it a much greater life and spirit: as when Cicero says:
«Catine, how long will you abuse our patience? Do not you perceive your designs are discovered?»
Some information about rhetorical devices.
A rhetorical devices use words in a certain way to convey meaning or to persuade. It can also be a technique used to evoke emotions within the reader or audience. Rhetorical devices (also known as stylistic devices or simply rhetoric) are techniques or language used to convey a point or convince an audience. And they're used by everyone: politicians, businesspeople, even novelists. You may already know some of these devices, such as similes and metaphors. Some types of rhetorical devices can also be considered figurative language because they depend on a non-literal usage of certain words or phrases.
References:

Galperin I.R. English Stylistics. Moscow, 2014. – p. 244-246.

Rhetorical questions and examples:https://www.thoughtco.com/rhetorical-question-grammar-1692060

Antypophora and examples: https://ifioque.com/figures-of-speech/trope/anthypophora

Hypophora and examples:https://www.thoughtco.com/hypophora-rhetoric-term-1690947

Epiplexis and examples:https://www.thoughtco.com/epiplexis-rhetoric-term-1690664

Erotesis and examples: https://ifioque.com/figures-of-speech/trope/erotesis

Functions of rhetorical questions in our speech: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/rhetorical-questions-speech-examples

Rhetorical devices: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rhetorical-devices-list-examples