ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE IN RHETORICAL QUESTIONS' TRANSLATION

This study aimed at analyzing rhetorical questions (RQs) in a corpus to find the most influential elements in translating RQs. By applying Larson's strategies to treat rhetorical questions, it was found that the first step in translating RQs is to identify an RQ from a real question. The corpus on which the study was conducted was Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' and the theoretical framework on which the study relied was strategies presented by Larson. As it was found the tone of an utterance, in other words, the illocutionary force of an utterance is the most crucial item by which a translator could distinguish an RQ from a real question. It was also found that RQs can be translated into different forms. Moreover, they can be translated into different question forms having the same function in Persian.Through conducting this study, the important role of illocutionary force in translating rhetorical questions was shown.

Keywords:

Rhetorical Questions , Illocutionary force , Pragmatics , Tone