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Is there a name to describe the use of ", then," after the subject of a sentence for dramatic effect when reaching a conclusion?

Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, - the balance wheel of the social machinery. Horace Mann

A “techne of YouTube performance,” then, is a form of music-theoretical knowledge that exists at the intersection of analytical detail, virtuosic performance ability, practical instrumental considerations, and an awareness of one’s audience and the communicative tendencies of social media. William O'Hara

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    Why do you think it a rhetorical device? It usually follows an argument setting out a case, and means 'therefore'.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented May 7 at 23:21
  • Hmm, honestly not sure if it's a rhetorical device. I thought it was a neat addition that added emphasis to the argument and was wondering if there was a name to pin to it. It has a unique ring to it that I thought it might be more than just another adverb in the sentence.
    – Curious Weevil
    Commented May 7 at 23:48
  • By definition, the cited examples don't give enough context, since including ,then / therefore after the subject (or Hence / Thus before it) must be a reference to prior context establishing the truth of what follows.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented May 8 at 0:37
  • @FumbleFingers It is true that it is possible to look at "then" as a time adverbial—"at a given time in the past"—but that seems an unlikely possibility, particularly in the second example. Further, from a reading of the texts containing these sentences, this is not the case, "then" is clearly inferential.
    – LPH
    Commented May 8 at 11:17
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    It's a pragmatic marker, of the type Fraser labels 'discourse management markers'. It's equivalent here to the comment clause 'In the light of what we've just been saying', structuring the discourse and in this case stressing the logic behind the coming declaration. 'Therefore' is a synonym here.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 8 at 16:59

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"Then" is in this context an adverb meant to provide a connection; this is why in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al., 1985) the type of adverbial that "then" embodies in this sort of sentence is called a conjunct. There is no rhetorical device involved, and the discussion remains in the domain of syntax.

(OLD) then adverb /ðen/ used to show the logical result of a particular statement or situation

  • If you miss that train then you'll have to get a taxi.
  • ‘My wife's got a job in Glasgow.’ ‘I take it you'll be moving, then.’
  • ‘You haven't done anything to upset me.’ ‘So what's wrong, then?’
  • Why don't you hire a car? Then you'll be able to visit more of the area.

(CoGEL) § 8.135
[…] conjuncts indicate how the speaker 'views the connection between two linguistic units', [but] such an indication does not conversely entail the use of a conjunct. The semantic role of expressing a relation between two units can frequently be fulfilled by an adjunct. Compare the following (where a pronoun, as frequently, functions as a linking device):

  • It was snowing, and in spite of this Mona went cycling.

The adverbial here which conjoins and indicates a concessive relation is an adjunct, as we see from its propensity to be focused in a cleft sentence:

  • . . . and it was in spite of this that Mona went cycling.

By contrast, in:

  • It was snowing, and nonetheless Mona went cycling.

the same conjoining function with the same concessive relation is fulfilled grammatically by  a conjunct :

*. . . and it was nonetheless that Mona went cycling. (user LPH: grammatically unacceptable, impossibility of writing cleft sentences shows the non-adjunct nature of "nonetheless")

Conjuncts thus both indicate the relation and are demonstrably outside the syntactically integrated clause structure which admits adjuncts. Moreover, there is one significant respect in which we must relax the semantic characteristic concerning the conjoining of linguistic units. It is possible for conjuncts to be used as discourse-initial items. Thus speech may actually begin, in the following way, given a particular context of situation:

  • So you're LÈAVing, then! (user LPH: "LÈAV" represents a stressed syllable with falling intonation)

[…]

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