Definition:
An utterance that has the form of a question (an interrogative sentence) but the force of a statement (a declarative sentence).
See also:
- Declarative Question
- Erotesis
- Exclamatory Question
- Intonation
- Polarity
- Prosody
- Rhetorical Question
- Tag Question
- Word Order
- Yes-No Question
Etymology
Term (a blend of question and declarative) introduced by Jerrold M. Saddock in Toward a Linguistic Theory of Speech Acts (1974)Examples and Observations:
- Crapgame: Are you nuts? What's more important than 16 million bucks?
Oddball: You come around tonight, Crapgame, and we'll show you.
(Kelly's Heroes, 1970) - ""Hello? What number are you calling? You've dialed the wrong number! Sorry? What good is that? How can you ever repay the last thirty seconds you have stolen from my life? I hate you, your husband, your children, and your relatives!"
(Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living, 1977) - Michael: Are you serious?
Wayne Jarvis: Almost always.
(Arrested Development, 2006) - "It is not the claim that intonation always directly conveys the illocutionary force of an utterance; it is also possible for the force of an utterance to be interpreted indirectly with respect to its intonation. This is exemplified in 'queclaratives,' which [Jerrold M.] Saddock (1974) describes as 'questions . . . used with the force of assertions of opposite polarity' (p. 79). The following are two examples from Saddock:
- Does anyone study Aristotle anymore?
- Haven't I been good to you?
- No one studies Aristotle anymore.
- I have been good to you.
(Ann K. Wennerstrom, The Music of Everyday Speech: Prosody and Discourse Analysis. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001)
Pronunciation: kwuh-KLAR-eh-tiv


