IV. Stylistic use of structural meaning

Every syntactical structure (e.g., a sentence) is supposed to perform a specific function, that is, it has a definite structural meaning. An affirmative statement, for instance, informs the reader or listener about various events, activities, feelings, etc. Negative statements deny something. The communicative function of questions consists in asking for information. They generally occur in conversations, when one interlocutor puts a question and another answers it. However, a syntactical structure may be used in an unusual function, assuming a new meaning and connotations.

Rhetorical question is a statement in the form of a question posed for a stylistic effect (e.g., emotional charge) rather than for the purpose of getting an answer. Compare the following statements:

Don’t walk into the house with mud on your shoes. I don’t like it.

How many times do I have to tell you to stop walking into the house with mud on your shoes? (more emphatic)

A rhetorical question seeks to encourage the listener to think over what the answer to the question (at least, the answer implied by the questioner) must be. When a speaker declaims, "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?" or "Will our company grow or shrink?", no formal answer is expected. Rather, the speaker asserts or denies something.

“How can people have hope when we tell them that they have no recourse, if they run afoul of the state justice system?” (E. Kennedy)

“Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?”/ “You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?” (Shakespeare)

From the examples given above, one can see that rhetorical questions convey various shades of emotive meaning, as challenge, irony, scorn, etc. Rhetorical questions are particularly favoured in oratory.

Some rhetorical questions become idiomatic English expressions: "What's the matter with you?" "Don't you know any better?" "Have you no shame?" "Do fish swim?" "Are you crazy?" "Who cares?" "How should I know?"

Question-in-the-narrative is another type of the question that has changed its structural meaning. Questions-in-the-narrative are “asked and answered by one and the same person (usually the author)” and acquire a semi-explanatory touch. Unlike rhetorical questions, questions-in-the-narrative are not disguised statements.

e.g. Who could it be, the despoiler of my solitude? Should I disguise myself? (Brown)

Questions-in-the-narrative have a strong emotional charge. This stylistic device is frequently met in public speeches, as it provides an emotional exposition to the subject matter, secures variety of expression and holds the listeners’ attention. Questions-in-the-narrative may also be used in poetic texts to give an impression of complete confidence between the author and the reader.

A negative statement can become a stylistic device, when it begins to fulfill an unusual communicative function. In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which the speaker emphasizes the positive by denying its opposite. Sentences with litotes are not equal to the corresponding affirmative sentences. Compare:

The food was not bad. The food was good.

The positive feature in the first sentence is diminished in quality - “not bad” is obviously weaker than “good”. Nevertheless, the negative construction is much stronger in the emotional appeal, as it suggests a connotation (e.g., irony). As with many figures of speech, the correct interpretation of litotes depends very much on intonation and the cultural setting. e.g. He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens. It is not an ordinary city.

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