Speech Act analysis of the Rhetorical Questions in CNN ...

ISSN 2309-0081 Rustam & Muhammad (2020)

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www.irss.academyirmbr.com November 2020

International Review of Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue.11

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Speech Act analysis of the Rhetorical Questions in CNN

Headlines

RABIAH RUSTAM Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities,

COMSATS University Islamabad Abbottabad Campus.

Email: [email protected]

SARDAR MUHAMMAD Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities,

COMSATS University Islamabad Abbottabad Campus.

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Present article aims to analyze the selected CNN headlines that use rhetorical questions. In order to

analyze the pragmatic functions, the headlines have been treated as speech acts. The news headlines are

the speech acts or utterances that aim to perform certain functions and affect the perceptions of the

readers. As the headlines of the news stories are always aimed at expressing more than what they are

composed of, there are not only the explicit messages carried within the headlines but also the implicit

messages which can only be decoded through the thorough analysis of the language devices and the

illocutionary forces present within the headlines. The current study focusses only on the rhetorical question

markers and the speech acts used in the headlines. The quantitative as well as descriptive qualitative

method has been used to analyze the rhetorical question markers, the speech acts and their illocutionary

functions in the headlines. It was found that the headlines carry implicit meanings and the rhetorical

questions have been used in the to attract the readers and to take them to the hidden indirect messages in

the headlines.

Keywords: Rhetoric, Questions, Speech Acts, Headlines.

Introduction

News headlines play a significant role in the spread of information across the globe. These are the headlines

of the news stories that capture reader‟s attention and take the reader or the listener to the details related

with a story. The form and structure of the news headlines matters a lot as there are messages contained

within the words that affect the reader or the listener. The focus of the present study is the news headlines

that are in the form of questions. All these questions have been treated as rhetorical questions as these

headlines mean more than what is said and have been analyzed using speech act theory. As it is quite time-

consuming business to analyze all the language devices, therefore, the present study is limited to the

analysis of the illocutionary functions based on the speech act theory and the rhetorical question markers

that help to identify the headlines as rhetorical questions.

Following are the objectives of the study:

1. To analyze the role of the rhetorical question markers in the headlines

2. To analyze the pragmatic functions of the headlines acting as rhetorical questions

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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The research questions that the article aims to investigate are the following:

1. What is the role of the rhetorical question markers in the news headlines?

2. Which speech act functions are associated with the headlines using rhetorical questions?

Literature Review

According to Searle (1965, p.173) a speech act is a function of the meaning of the sentence. Keeping in

view this definition a speech act is the basic unit of the linguistic communication as claimed by Searle. In

order to understand the functions of the speech act, it is necessary to understand the taxonomy of the speech

acts, the identification devices as well as the context in which it is uttered or written. Searle (1969, pp. 16-

19) classified the speech acts into illocutionary acts or the acts having a communicative outcome after

being read or listened to by the audience:

i. Representative acts: These acts commit the speaker to the truth of an expressed proposition. The

direction of fit of representatives is words to the world and the expressed psychological state is a

belief. For example, complain, conclude and deduce.

ii. Directive acts: These acts are the efforts by the speaker or the writer to make reader take an action

as expressed in an utterance. The direction of fit is world to the words and the sincerity condition is

want or desire. For example, ask, order, command, request and plead.

iii. Commissive acts: These acts express commitment to future action that would be taken later.

Direction of fit is world to the words and the sincerity condition is intention. For example,

commitment and promise.

iv. Expressive acts: These acts simply indicate the psychological or emotional state while expressing

something. Direction of fit is not required. For example, apologize, condole, deplore and welcome.

v. Declarative acts: These acts bring a change in the already existing state of affairs. Successful

performance guarantees that the propositional content corresponds to the world. For example,

declare, appoint and fire.

Searle (1969, pp.65-68) not only gave a framework for the identification of the speech acts but also

provided some criteria which should be fulfilled in order to fulfill the purpose for which an utterance or

speech act is being expressed. These criteria are called felicity conditions and are given below:

i. Propositional content conditions: This criterion is concerned with understanding what is contained

within an utterance or sentence.

ii. Preparatory conditions: These conditions are concerned with the fact that whether the speaker has the

authority and whether the circumstances allow a speech act to be performed properly or not.

iii. Sincerity conditions: These conditions are concerned with the psychological state and intentions of

the speaker or writer making an utterance.

iv. Essential conditions: These conditions imply whether a speaker or a writer has an intention that an

utterance or speech act be performed by the addressee.

The context of a speech act equally matters in identifying it. According to Searle and Vanderveken (1985,

p.17) the context is the environment or the conditions under which an act is performed. The same speech

act performed under a different environment or context may possess different meaning.

Giving reference to Ilie (1999: 128) cited by Schaffer (2005:434) Goldman(2006:2) defined rhetorical

question as a challenging statement where the person who questions has an intention to provide an answer

that is not explicit, rather, implicit. The addresser knows that the addressee will get the obvious answer.

Giving reference to Han(2002, p.202) Goldman(2006, p.2) said that a rhetorical question acts as an

illocutionary assertive act and is aimed to mean something else while asking something different.


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Chen (2006, 609-613) studied the pragmatic prototypical categories of rhetorical questions. According to

him a pragmatic prototypical category has different syntactic constructions performing the same pragmatic

function as the criteria. A rhetorical question performs pragmatic function that is based on the illocutionary

force. When different syntactic structures represent a similar illocutionary force, it means that they have

similar pragmatic function and thus belong to the same pragmatic prototypical category. The rhetorical

questions behave as indirect speech acts and possess an indirect relationship between the structure and

form. They perform a wide range of roles as indirect speech acts of asserting, blaming, protesting and

complaining in the form of assertive and also perform acts of advising, requesting, commanding and

warning in the form of directives. She gave an example of an assertive speech act such as “Doesn't it feel

good to be honest with him”. Similarly, an example of complaining is “How could my father do this? He

knew what that ball meant to me”. Likewise, examples of directives such as act of request “Why can‟t you

boys play well” and an act of command such as “Why don‟t you read it out loud, Ray?” can be found. The

above mentioned examples violate certain felicity conditions such as the rules of sincerity and necessity and

thus do not act as interrogatives.

This kind of indirectness is used intentionally and rationally in order to achieve certain goals. The speaker

uses rhetorical questions in order to amplify or mitigate a statement. As an amplifier a rhetorical question

enhances the force or impact of a standpoint or an argument and enables the speaker to win over the

audience. It can be used to challenge or attack an opponent. Rhetorical questions are also used for the sake

of politeness. Direct commands are too strong and impolite and can not help audience get the suggestions.

Rhetorical questions also indicate power and status and can be used as face threatening acts.

Egg (2007) discussed the meaning the use of the rhetorical questions. He said that the speaker uses the

rhetorical questions as emphatic statements instead of demanding information (Egg, p.73). Egg(74) further

elaborated that the rhetorical questions are quite appropriate to study the semantic pragmatic interface as

there exists a contradiction between their literal meanings and their discourse functions.

Egg (2007, pp. 76-77) said that rhetorical questions function as indirect speech acts as their speakers are

interested in their answers and thus these questions violate the felicity conditions for interrogatives. They

violate either the sincerity condition (The speaker wants to have a specific piece of information) or the

essential condition (they try to get this piece of information from the hearer by means of a question). But

the speakers do not violate these felicity conditions without any motive and the hearers also try to

reconstruct the speaker‟s motivation. Here comes the notion of an indirect speech act as a direct speech act

refers to the felicity conditions of a speech act that is intended. A very simple example is “Could you pass

the salt” where the intended speech act is a request. Another example is the following statement:

“Who on earth would ever lift a finger to help Max?”

In the above-mentioned sentence, the intended speech act is a statement. The preparatory condition of a

statement is that it is not obvious for the speaker to have the idea that the hearer already knows what is

being stated and the speaker can make a rhetorical question. Same is the case with the acts of advice,

refusal and warning. Rhetorical questions indicate a typical effect for indirect speech acts as a hearer can

react to not only the direct but also the indirect speech acts. In case of the above mentioned statement a

hearer can indicate affirmation by nodding in case of a an indirect speech act and can also say “nobody” as

a reaction to a direct speech act.

Egg further stated that indirect speech acts give a decisive clue to the interpretation of the rhetorical

questions. In case of the indirect speech acts the questions are not interpreted with respect to the hearer‟s

background as the information is not required from the hearer rather, they are interpreted against a common

ground.

Goto (2011) conducted a relevance theoretic analysis of the properties and the understanding process of the

rhetorical questions. She disagreed with the idea given by Han (2002) that the rhetorical questions function


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as assertive. She stressed that they may not assert anything. Giving an example of the utterance “who

knows” she said that such a statement may include the assumption such as nobody knows. Here the speaker

communicates more than one assumption at a time. The speaker of the utterance “who knows” may also

implicate that “it could be anyone, but I do not care who”.

As mentioned by Goto (2011, p. 02) rhetorical questions have been treated in the speech act theory as

indirect speech acts. Searle (1975, pp. 65-67) classified the indirect requests into five categories on the

basis of what a speaker implies. This classification includes:

i. Hearer‟s ability to perform an action as in case of “Can you reach the salt”.

ii. Speaker‟s wish or desire that a hearer will perform an action as in case of “I would like you to go

now”.

iii. Hearer‟s doing an action for example, “Would you kindly get off my foot?

iv. A hearer‟s desire or willingness to carry out an action such as “Would you mind not making so much

noise?”

v. Reasons for an action such as “How many times have I told you not to eat with your fingers?”

According to Searlean view all of the above-mentioned utterances are indirect requests.

Goto (2011) argued that the rhetorical questions may not only function as assertive but may also function as

other speech acts such as directives. She disagreed with Quirk et al. (1985:825) point of view that the

rhetorical questions function as assertive. If Quirk et al. (1985) argument is considered then in case of the

following utterance “who knows” the speaker asserts that nobody knows. On the other hand, if Searle

(1979) five categories of the speech acts such as assertive, commissives, directives, expressives and

declaratives are also taken into consideration then the result can be different. According to Searle sentence

mood indicates a particular kind of illocutionary force. For example, the declarative sentences have the

assertive force while the imperative and the interrogative sentences have the directive force.

In case of the following examples:

i. The capital of UK is London.

ii. Pass me the salt.

iii. Are you coming to the party?

The first sentence is an assertion. Second one is a request for an action while the third one is a request for

information.

It may happen that an utterance may have two distinct illocutionary forces of speech acts such as a directive

force as well as an assertive force. Such as in the case of the following utterance “Do you know what time

it is”. This utterance can be made in a setting where it is time for the guest speaker to come and he is late.

The utterance can be made to the guest speaker‟s friend and may imply that “it is the time for the guest

speaker to appear”. Here the assumption does not indicate a request for action for the guest speaker rather

simply expresses an opinion about a situation. In a different setting such an utterance is directly made to a

speaker for an action can be a directive.

She (p12) argued that there are variety of questions that do not request information and they exist in a

number of cases where the traditional speech act theories can not explain them. Rhetorical questions neither

have an assertive force nor have a directive force of a speech act. In the process of understanding utterances

it is not necessary to classify the illocutionary force. The point of uttering a rhetorical question does not

only lie in the proposition expressed by an utterance but may lie in the hearer‟s understanding process.

Abioye (2011, pp. 290-299) studied the role of the rhetorical questions in textual message effectiveness.

She found that the structure of the rhetorical questions is similar to other interrogatives, but their functions


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are different. They can be used to assert or deny something. They help to understand the textual

complexity, rhetoricity and metaphorical extensions. She collected and analyzed the responses from the

newspapers readers and found that the use of such questions enhances message effectiveness. It has more

impact on a reader as compared with a conventional statement. Such questions have the power of

manipulation and create a deeper impression on readers‟ minds

Methodology

The research uses mixed methods approach using qualitative as well as quantitative methods. 200 headlines

were selected from CNN website using random sampling technique. The headlines were categorized on the

basis of the stories they represent and the context in which they were written. Later, the headlines were

divided into speech acts following Searlean taxonomy. For the current study only the headlines using

rhetorical questions were selected. The headlines using questions were found to be 18 only. The frequencies

of occurrence with respect to specific stories were calculated. The headlines were analyzed based on the

types of the question markers. In order to conduct the speech act analysis, the felicity conditions were

analyzed and compared with those given by Vanderveken and Underwood to find out what type of function

was being performed by an act. In order to analyze the felicity conditions, the context of situation was taken

into consideration. The context helped to find out that the questions were not used to ask for the

information rather to give information.

Results

The results of the study are based on the quantitative as well the qualitative descriptive analysis.

Quantitative analysis helped to find out the frequencies of occurrence of rhetorical questions in the news

headlines while the qualitative analysis helped to find out different categories of speech acts in the

headlines acting as rhetorical questions.

Quantitative Analysis

Quantitative analysis indicates the frequencies of existence of the rhetorical question markers with respect

to the type of story the headline is about as well as the rhetorical question markers percentages.

Graph 1: Distribution of question markers with respect to stories in the headlines

The table indicates the highest frequency of the rhetorical questions used in the headlines related with

Osama bin Laden. The second highest use of questions has been found in the news headlines related with

38.88%

5.55% 5.55% 11.11%

5.55%

22.22%

5.55% 5.55%

0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%30.00%35.00%40.00%45.00%

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sports while the third highest use of rhetorical questions has been found in the news headlines focusing on

the domestic situation in Pakistan. The rhetorical questions used in all other news headlines about different

topics share equal percentages.

Type of Rhetorical Question Markers

There are different types of markers used by the headlines acting as rhetorical questions. In order to present

a headline as a question “wh” questions, modal verbs, auxiliary verbs as well as connectors and the

question marks have been used. The details are presented in the graphs below.

Graph 2: Types of rhetorical question markers

The statistics indicate that the most frequently found questions are of “how‟ type. The second highest

frequency is of “can” type questions whereas there are equal percentages of “why” and „is” type questions.

Similarly, “where”, “who”, “or”, “are” and the statements ending with “?” possess equal percentages. It can

be inferred from the data that the questions starting with “how” and “can” were preferred in the headlines.

Graph 3: Types of rhetorical question markers in relation with the types of stories in the headlines

This table indicates that “how” type questions have mostly been used in the news headlines about Osama

Bin Laden. On the other hand “can” type questions have been used in the headlines related with sports. All

other question types share the same frequencies.

27.77%

5.55% 5.55% 5.55%

11.11%

22.22%

5.55%

11.11%

5.55%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

How Where ? Who Why Can Or Is Are

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22.22%

5.55% 5.55% 5.55% 5.55% 5.55% 5.55%

16.66%

5.55% 5.55% 5.55% 5.55%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

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Analysis of headlines based on speech act functions

Keeping in view the above mentioned Searlean taxonomy, the headlines functioning as speech acts were

categorized into the major types. These types were further sub-categorized keeping in view Vanderveken‟s

detailed analysis of the illocutionary acts.

Headlines functioning to expose facts

If Vanderveken‟s definition of the speech act of “expose” is considered Vanderveken (1990, p.175)

defined it as a speech act that functions to unhide the information that is not clear by removing the cover

that was hiding the information. There are five headlines whose felicity conditions match each other.

Collectively, they perform the function of exposing the information. The detailed analysis is given below:

H1. How U.S. forces killed Osama Bin Laden

Context

Osama bin Laden was killed on May 02, 2011 by United States marines. The headline aims to draw

attention to the details related with the story.

Felicity Conditions

i. Propositional content conditions: The proposition concerns past state of affairs.

ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer knows the details of the event.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The wrier wants readers know the details.

iv. Essential conditions: The writer wants to explain the details.

H2. Where is Abbottabad, Pakistan?

H3.

Context

The headline has been written to highlight the place where Osama bin Laden was killed.

Felicity Conditions

i. Propositional content conditions: The proposition concerns current state of affairs.

ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer knows something about the location.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer wants to inform the readers about something.

iv. Essential conditions: Information about an unknown place is going to be given.

H4. How did U.S. confirm the body was Bin Laden's?

Context

The headline was written when people raised questions about the dead body of Bin Laden after the raid by

US forces.

Felicity Conditions


http://johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/where-is-abbottabad-pakistan/?iref=allsearch

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/how-did-u-s-confirm-the-body-was-bin-ladens/?iref=allsearch


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ii. Preparatory conditions: There is some information about the event that writer knows but the

readers do not know.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers must be made aware of the unknown information.

iv. Essential conditions: The desired information needs to be given.

H5. How jihadis are reacting to Bin Laden's death

Context

The headline has been written after Bin Laden‟s death.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has got information about the reaction of jihadis.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers are unaware of jihadis reaction and need to be made aware.

iv. Essential conditions: The readers need to be informed.

H6. Ilyas Kashmiri: the most dangerous man on Earth?

Context

The headline is about a freedom fighter from Kashmir who fought against Indian occupation forces in

Kashmir.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has reasons to prove ILyas Kashmiri as most dangerous.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers do not know that Ilyas Kashmiri is most dangerous.

iv. Essential conditions: The readers must be informed how dangerous Ilyas Kashmiri is.

Headlines functioning to predict

Vanderveken (1990, p. 173) defined „to predict‟ as representative illocutionary act. Its propositional content

indicates future situation. Its preparatory condition is that the person making the utterance believes that

there is a valid reason to predict the future situation. There are three headlines that function to predict some

future state of affairs.

H7. Inside Al Qaeda succession: Who is likely to step up

Context

The headline was written after the Supreme leader of Alqaeda Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces.

Felicity conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has reasons to discuss the situation.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers need to know the possibility of what is going to happen.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/01/25/vbs.pakistan.taliban.vbstv?iref=allsearch

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/06/al.qaeda.succession/index.html?iref=allsearch


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iv. Essential conditions: A prediction is going to be made on the basis of available reasons.

Headlines functioning to conclude

Underwood (2008: 54) defined “conclude” as a representative speech act where there is a preparatory

condition associated with the propositional content that whatever is being concluded is the result of

appropriate reasoning process.

H8. Why Pakistan is not rising up

Context

Pakistan was facing serious issues related with economy, terrorism and international relations. The headline

has been written in that context.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has found reasons behind an event.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers know about a bad state of affairs, but are unaware of its causes.

iv. Essential conditions: An explanation needs to be given on the basis of available reasons.

H9. Why US-Pakistani relations are strained

Context

In the summer of 2011 US withheld military aid to Pakistan. The headline has been written to highlight that

issue.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writers knows the reasons behind the bad state of affairs.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers are not aware of the causes behind an event.

iv. Essential conditions: Something unknown needs to be explained.

Headlines functioning to Criticize

Vanderveken (1990, pp. 178-179) defined „criticize‟ a representative speech act where the person making a

statement highlights the faults associated with a person or situation. Only one headline raises doubts about a

state of affairs.

H10. How did Bin Laden hide just yards from Pakistan military academy?

Context

The headline raises questions about the presence of Osama Bin laden in Pakistan.

Felicity Conditions


http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/10/sayah.pakistan.not.rising.up.cnn?iref=allsearch

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/11/gps.ahmed.rashid.cnn?iref=allsearch

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/how-did-bin-laden-hide-just-yards-from-pakistan-military-academy/?iref=allsearch


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ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer is doubtful about a state of affairs.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers have same doubt.

iv. Essential conditions: The existing doubt needs to be clarified by discussion.

Headlines functioning to argue

As described by Vanderveken (1990, p. 184) argumentation has the purpose of convincing the audience by

providing reasons about a state of affairs. At the same time the reasons are given in arguments to convince

whether something is right or wrong.

All the headlines coming under this category present information that is open to further discussion and

more details are needed to establish an opinion.

H11. Can tennis pair pave way to India-Pakistan harmony?

Context

The headline had been written in the context of partnership between a Pakistani and Indian tennis player

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna of India.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer wants to give the possibility of something going to happen as a

result of current state of affairs.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers need to be made aware of the results of the

current situation.

iv. Essential conditions: There exists a doubt regarding the current situation that needs to be explained.

H12. Can Cricket World Cup improve India-Pakistan ties?

Context

The headline has been written in the context of world cup 2011 where Pakistan and Indian had a cricket

match.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer knows that there is a possibility that a bad state of affairs can or

cannot be improved.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The readers are also doubtful.

iv. Essential conditions: The existing situation needs to be explained.

H13. Assassin or hero? Pakistan's great divide over killer of governor

Context

In 2011 Governor of the Punjab Province of Pakistan was killed by a person called Mumtaz Qadri on

account of blasphemy charges. Some people termed Qadri as hero and some others called him assassin.

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/can-cricket-world-cup-improve-india-pakistan-ties/?iref=allsearch

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/06/assassin-or-hero-pakistans-great-divide-over-killer-of-governor/?iref=allsearch


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Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer is aware of the reasons behind a doubtful state of affairs.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer wants the readers know why the current situation has taken place.

iv. Essential conditions: The reasons behind the situation need to be explained.

H14. Is Pakistan a divided country?

Context

The headlines was written in the context of variety of opinions Pakistani people have over various issues

related with religion, politics, international relations etc.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: There exists a doubt in the mind of the writer.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer wants to convey the same doubt to the readers.

iv. Essential conditions: An explanation for the existing doubt is needed.

H15. Are Pakistan's nukes safe?

Context

The headline was written by CNN after an American news analyst Samuel Hersh raised questions about the

security of Pakistan‟s nuclear weapons during Pakistan‟s war against terrorism.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: There exists a doubt in the mind of the writer about the existing situation.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writers thinks that the readers are not aware of the current situation.

iv. Essential conditions: The writer wants to convey the existing doubt to the readers.

H16. Can U.S. trust Pakistan?

Context

This headline was written in 2011 after the death of Bin Laden and in the context of US Pakistan

cooperation against terrorism.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has found reasons regarding bad state of affairs.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers are unaware of the existing state of affairs.

iv. Essential conditions: The writer wants to convey the information about the uncertain situation.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/01/07/pakistan.divided.nation.cnn?iref=allsearch


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H17. Can cricket survive in Pakistan?

Context

This headline was written after gambling accusations on Pakistan cricket team in 2010.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer has a doubt regarding the existing situation.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers have the same doubt but do not knot know the

reasons behind it.

iv. Essential conditions: The reasons behind the existing state of affairs must be clarified.

H18. Is Pakistan protecting Bin Laden?

Context

This headline was written after a CNN news analyst Peter Bergen raised questions on the long time stay of

Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: There is a doubt in the mind of the author.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers are unaware of the doubt in his mind.

iv. Essential conditions: The readers must be informed about the existing doubt.

Headlines functioning to laud

Vanderveken (1990, p. 179) differentiated “laud” and “appreciate” in terms of the degree of strength where

praise has a lower degree of strength than laud. The propositional content condition is to express praise for

the hearer or reader or audience.

H19. How U.S. Marines help flood victims

Context

This headline has been written in the context of the floods of 2010 in Pakistan where US military helped the

flood victims in the flood affected areas.

Felicity Conditions


ii. Preparatory conditions: The writer knows the details of the event.

iii. Sincerity conditions: The writer thinks that the readers do not know the details.

iv. Essential conditions: The readers must be informed about the details.


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Discussion

Questions play significant role in shaping the new headlines. There are several markers that make the

headlines questions. Most commonly used markers include how, can, why, is where”, “who”, “or” and

“are”. Interrogative mark (?) has also been used in a headline. As the headlines communicate more than

what is said, all these question markers make rhetorical questions where the function to communicate

implicit meanings behind the headlines. The existence of rhetorical questions proves Athjanasiadou (1991)

statement that such questions are used to emphasize a statement or make it prominent. They function to

make the headlines prominent, attractive, create a desire in the reader‟s mind to get into the details related

with the headlines and thus increase the readability of the written content. The existence of such markers

proves Ilie (1999: 128) statement cited by Schaffer (2005:434) and Goldman(2006:2) that the rhetorical

questions challenge the reader‟s mind and the person who questions usually has an intention to

communicate the implicit meanings.

As the headlines have been treated as speech acts especially the illocutionary acts, it means that the

questions used in the headlines mean more than what is reflected in the words. The interrogatives or

questions can be found abundant in the representative or assertive speech acts which justify. Han (2002,

p.202) statement that these questions are assertive.

Even while acting as Assertives or Representatives, the questions have different illocutionary roles as

speech acts. For example while acting as expository statements in all the headlines (H1, H2, H3 and H4) are

related with the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, these acts highlight the news stories. Here the questions

are not aimed at providing answers, rather to expose the story and make the readers access the details that

the news channel wants them to read. Only one headline H5 uses a different strategy. Only a question mark

has been placed at the end just to attract the attention of the readers which can be termed as a rhetorical

strategy. In H6 the headline is functioning again as an assertive where it is predicting a future state of

affairs if Vanderveken (1990, p. 173) statement is considered. Again the question in the headline has an

implicit function of taking the reader to details of what is being predicted. Act of „to conclude‟ H7 and H8

are rhetorical questions. The readers are being taken to conclusions based on what the writer thinks or says.

H9 is a criticism in the form of a question having implicit meaning where the purpose is to highlight the

loopholes related with past state of affairs. The headlines (H10 to H17) included in the acts of „to argue‟ are

rhetorical questions. Interrogatives have been used here to take the news story into further details where the

write may provide arguments to accept or reject an idea or make the story debatable.

A different kind of rhetorical question can be found in the expressive act of „to laud‟ (H18). Again, the

function is to make the story prominent with an implicit illocutionary force of appreciation associated with

it.

The classification of the primary illocutionay acts categories into a number of related prototypes

strengthens the statement given by Searle and Vanderveken (1985) that inspite of having the same

propositional content, a speech act may still have different illocutionary forces. The interrogatives used in

the headlines have implicit meanings in a variety of contexts that is why different illocutionary forces are

associated with them.

Conclusion

Existence of rhetorical questions in most of the headlines indicates that they have not been used to get

answer for something, rather they have been used to put emphasis or to take the readers to whole set of

arguments given by the headlines writer as in the acts of argue. The headlines under analysis covered a

variety of stories related with the death of Bin Laden, US forces, terrorism and sports. All the headlines

carried implicit meanings and function to either expose the information, predict a future state of affairs,

make an effort to take readers to a conclusion or function to appreciate an action. It can be concluded from


247

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R S S

the analysis of the headlines that they are aimed at expressing more than what is being communicated

through words that compose them. The interrogative form has been used to act as cover to the implicit ideas

in the headlines.

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