Abstract:
This thesis investigates the functions of rhetorical questions (RQs) in political speeches by Donald Trump (2015–16) by considering the notions of ambiguity and common ground (CG) from a pragmatic perspective. RQs have been discussed from a structural standpoint by Caponigro and Sprouse (2007), Dayal (2016), den Dikken and Giannakidou (2002), Egg (2007), Giannakidou (2002), Han (2002), Krifka (1995), Molnár and Winkler (2026), and van Rooy (2003). They have been analysed semantically by Biezma and Rawlins (2017), Caponigro and Sprouse (2007), Han (2002), Krifka (2015, 2023), Rohde (2006), Sadock (1971), and Progovac (1993) as well as pragmatically by Athanasiadou (1991), Ene (1983), Ilie (1994), Meibauer (1986), and Wong and Yap (2015). The thesis focusses on three main questions: (1) How were RQs previously approached and classified to distinguish them from ordinary questions (OQs)? (2) What kinds of strategic functions do RQs have and how are RQs and their functions different from assertions? (3) What are the functions of RQs in the political speeches by Donald Trump from 2015–2016? Previous literature has identified various criteria to distinguish RQs from OQs. RQs have been associated with questions, assertions, and indirect speech acts. Structural and semantic criteria include linguistic markers such as negative polarity items (NPIs), modals, combinations of these two markers, and the assertion of opposite polarity. These semantic and syntactic observations are empirically investigated using a corpus comprising sixteen of Donald Trump’s speeches. The empirical investigation shows that neither semantic nor structural factors alone determine the classification of RQs. In addition, I investigate the communicative setting. Speeches are shown to consist of different levels of communication. Based on the analyses, a corpus of RQs, the Rhetorical Questions in Trump Speech Corpus (TSC-RQ), has been compiled from sixteen of Trump’s political speeches. The empirical findings provide the basis for investigating the functions of RQs. To provide a context-based account, various discourse examination proposals are discussed, focussing on those of Beaver et al. (2021), Camp (2018), Lewis (1979), Stalnaker (1978, 2002, 2014), and Roberts (2006, 2012, 2021), combined with pragmatic theories on the communicative functions of speech acts and especially RQs (Austin 1962; Harris 2016; Ilie 1994; Saul 2018a; Searle 1969; Roberts 2018; Wong and Yap 2015). The previous work on RQs serves as the theoretical basis for the analysis of the RQs in the speeches by Trump. Speakers use RQs that take the form of questions but function differently, employing ambiguity for communicative purposes. RQs are speech acts aligned with the speaker’s aims to achieve communicative goals that are distinct from ordinary questions or assertions. The “mismatch” (Farkas 2024b) invokes a pragmatic reasoning process and signals the uniqueness of RQs. Pragmatic reasoning is
grounded in the observations of Camp (2018), Camp (2022), Farkas (2024b), Grice (1975), and Roberts (2017). Three main strategic functions are discussed on the basis of previous literature. The guiding question is how do the strategic functions of RQs contribute to Donald Trump’s persuasive rhetorical strategy? I argue for a context-based approach that considers the communicative setting, the CG, the conversational record (CR), presuppositions, and the speaker’s intention. The corpus analysis reveals how the speaker manages the CG, either through pragmatic focussing or by accommodating presuppositions. Furthermore, this thesis presents ways to align beliefs on controversial topics and illustrates communicative strategies realised in Trump’s speeches. This thesis makes both theoretical and empirical contributions to research on RQs and their functions, with its main contribution being the analysis of the functions of RQs in Trump’s political speeches from 2015 to 2016.
Rhetorical Questions