THEMATIC SUSPENSION AND SPEECH-ACT QUALIFICATION, RHETORICAL EFFECTS OF STRAY INTERROGATIVE CLAUSES IN JAPANESE TEXT

Although questioning is a common phenomenon, the nature of its rhetorical effects in Japanese text has not been sufficiently investigated. This paper analyzes the interrogative clauses in Japanese text which appear syntactically unattached to main predicates. Two kinds of rhetorical effects, 'thematic suspension' and 'Speech Act Qualification' (mitigating as well as evidential qualification) are proposed for these stray interrogative clauses (SICs). The dynamic force realized by the question-answer contract as well as by the relationship between the thematic framework and its rhematic response is presented as the source for the SIC's rhetorical effects. © 1994.