Posing Questions without Asking

Abstract

The paper deals with the specific use of rhetorical questions in a particular, national type of parliamentary discourse. After a discussion about rhetorical questions in general, the specifics of the Polish parliamentary discourse are described. The data comes from a part of a parliamentary debate on an emergency topic. This mostly conflictual subgenre is named issue specific question time”. Based on numerous samples, this analysis reveals three main characteristics within the parliamentary use of rhetorical questions in the Sejm: firstly, the Members of Parliament mostly waive self-answering to rhetorical questions; secondly they treat rhetorical questions as an appropriate tool to formulate statements with question syntax. Both findings are based on the specific parliamentary turn taking rules, viz the right to speak is institutionally linked with the requirement to pose at least one question. The third major characteristic is that rhetorical questions were posed in sequences with other standard or non-standard questions. Thus, the clarity of the unspoken answers in the hearer's minds can often be conveyed to the other non-rhetorical questions in the sequence.