What does か do in a rhetorical question?


From
[『スーツ』](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUITS/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%84_\(%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9E\))

> A: ど…どうしたの？(Seeing B is unhappy: "What's going on with you?")
>
> B: どうしたの **か** って？人が死んだ。("You know what's wrong! Someone died!")

What I usually hear is that the part before a quotative って repeats what the
other party just said. What does か add to the tone of the rhetorical question?




どうしたの and どうしたのか are the same except that the latter is usually regarded as
the literary style. The のか style is fairly bookish and stiff at the end of a
sentence, but it's less so in the middle of a sentence. Here, どうしたのって and
どうしたのかって are almost the same except that the latter may sound a little more
serious/formal.

  * 昨日は何食べたのって聞かれた。(informal)
  * 昨日は何を食べたの **か** (と)聞かれました。(formal)

(But is that really a rhetorical question? A typical rhetorical question is
something that implies "no". Something like 誰が分かるのか ("Who knows?") is a
rhetorical question because it implies "no one knows", but in this case どうしたの
is just an ordinary question and it does not imply "nothing happened" or
"nothing is wrong". Person B simply quoted it without changing the meaning of
the question itself.)

* * *

You probably know this, but if だ/です were used, it would add a nuance of
accusation/shock (see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/90333/5010)).

  * どうしたの **だ** って？
  * どうしたのか **だ** って？
  * どうしたの **です** って？
  * どうしたのか **です** って？




どうしたの and どうしたのか are the same except that the latter is usually regarded as
the literary style. The のか style is fairly bookish and stiff at the end of a
sentence, but it's less so in the middle of a sentence. Here, どうしたのって and
どうしたのかって are almost the same except that the latter may sound a little more
serious/formal.

  * 昨日は何食べたのって聞かれた。(informal)
  * 昨日は何を食べたの **か** (と)聞かれました。(formal)

(But is that really a rhetorical question? A typical rhetorical question is
something that implies "no". Something like 誰が分かるのか ("Who knows?") is a
rhetorical question because it implies "no one knows", but in this case どうしたの
is just an ordinary question and it does not imply "nothing happened" or
"nothing is wrong". Person B simply quoted it without changing the meaning of
the question itself.)

* * *

You probably know this, but if だ/です were used, it would add a nuance of
accusation/shock (see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/90333/5010)).

  * どうしたの **だ** って？
  * どうしたのか **だ** って？
  * どうしたの **です** って？
  * どうしたのか **です** って？

