Le domande retoriche come strumento pragmatico nel dialogo cinematografico

Abstract

Starting from the observation that in Italian film dialogues, the rhetorical questions are widely used, the aim of this study is to analyze the pragmatic functions performed by rhetorical questions. Adopting the speech act theory, which studies language as a form of action and views meaning as a product of interactive context and the speaker’s communicative intention, the analysis is to show that these questions cannot be considered merely a subtype of speech act of requesting, but because of its illocutionary force, an effective tool in conveying speaker’s emotions and stances. Through a qualitative analysis of selected examples from Italian films, the analysis will demonstrate that such questions are not used randomly, but appear in emotionally intense, conveying characters’ inner states in ways that go beyond literal meaning.