What function does わけ have in this question?


There's no dialogue preceding this question, but the context is that a father
and his son have just arrived at a river to go fishing. The son asks:

> こんなところで魚なんか釣れるわけ？

I believe this means "Can we actually catch fish in a place like this?", but I
don't know exactly what purpose わけ serves here.




The わけ works like an ending particle for question, mostly replaceable by の.

Examples:

  * こんなところで魚なんか釣れるわけ？ = こんなところで魚なんか釣れるの？
  * どこいってたわけ？= どこいってたの？
  * 何してたわけ？ = 何してたの？

Both are mostly the same in meaning, but の generally sounds softer and わけ can
sound emphasizing doubt of the speaker, or sometimes can add blaming tone.

