Question
Definition:
Here are two senses of question:
- A question is an illocutionary act that has a directive illocutionary point of attempting to get the addressee to supply information.
- A question is a sentence type that has a form (labeled interrogative) typically used to express an illocutionary act with the directive illocutionary point mentioned above. It may be actually so used (as a direct illocution), or used rhetorically.
Examples:
(English)
Here are some examples of sentences, ordered to illustrate the two senses of question above:
- An illocutionary act that attempts to obtain information from an addressee
- Tell me your name.
- Give me your address.
2. Sentences with inverted word order or interrogative pro-forms
- What’s your name?
- Did you sleep well?
See Also:
Source:
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.