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I have been wondering if this particular speaking device had a specific name.  My wife uses a speaking technique where, instead of just making a statement, she presents it in the form of a question, and then immediately answers her own question.  For example, instead of saying

I think you are wrong.

she would say,

Do I think you are wrong? Yes.

Or, similarly, instead of

I hate when he does that.

she would say

Do I hate when he does that? Yes.

Does this particular technique have a name?  I have been trying to Google this, but have been stumped as to exactly what to search for.

Inti Soto · Accepted Answer

This figure of speech is called hypophora. If you visit the Wikipedia entry for figures of speech or this web page about rhetoric, you can find more information about this and other devices.

Sven Yargs · Answer

Apparently a number of terms apply to this tactic. Richard A. Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (1968) offers these:

anthypophora: asking questions and answering them.
dialogismus: speaking in another man's person.
hypophora: asking questions and answering them.
ratiocinatio: a question addressed by the speaker to himself.
sermocinatio: the speaker answers the remarks or questions of a pretended interlocutor.

The past master of sermocinatio was Donald Rumsfeld, who, as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006, habitually rephrased or replaced reporters' questions at press conferences with the questions he preferred to answer.

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