This paper examines one systematic way in which inferences about politeness are derived from linguistic expressions. Focusing on the complex connection between English rising declaratives (RDs) and politeness, it proposes an analysis that combines aspects of the Lewisian/Stalnakerian context-update framework with pragmatic theories of politeness. The analysis generates certain context-sensitive predictions, which are tested and confirmed experimentally. The resulting account is able to capture why assertive uses of RDs often sound like more polite assertions, why inquisitive uses of RDs often sound like less polite questions, why assertive RDs can sometimes convey particular presumptions about the common ground, and why all of these inferences are ultimately heavily context-dependent. The emerging proposal is shown to have broader implications for analyzing the role of semantic convention in deriving politeness and associated inferences, and for determining the division of labor between semantics, context, and general pragmatic reasoning.

本文研究了一种系统的方式，可以从语言表达中得出有关礼貌的推论。着眼于英语上升的陈述式（RD）和礼貌之间的复杂联系，提出了一种分析，该分析结合了Lewisian / Stalnakerian上下文更新框架的各个方面与务实的礼貌理论。该分析会生成某些上下文相关的预测，这些预测将通过实验进行测试和确认。由此得出的结论能够说明为什么对RD的断言用法经常听起来像是更有礼貌的断言，为什么对RD的问询性使用听起来听起来不太礼貌的问题，为什么有主见的RD有时可以传达关于共同点的特定假设以及为什么所有这些推论最终很大程度上取决于上下文。