Rhetorical Question (ASL)

In American Sign Language, a grammatical construction in which the signer poses a question and then immediately answers it, used as a cohesive rhetorical device rather than as a genuine inquiry. ASL rhetorical questions are marked by specific non-manual signals — typically raised eyebrows, a slight head tilt, and sometimes a forward body lean — which distinguish them from genuine yes/no questions (which use different eyebrow and head movements). Rhetorical questions are a common structural feature of connected ASL discourse, so accurate modelling of their non-manual markers and timing is important for signing-avatar systems, ASL instructional materials, and captioning or interpretation research.