Expressive Assertion in Polish Rising Declaratives

A Pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

The paper presents a pragmatic analysis of a previously undescribed phenomenon in Polish which consists in uttering declarative sentences with rising intonation. Based on an analysis of the research material, it is demonstrated in some contexts that by using rising intonation, the sender questions the rationale behind the interlocutor’s utterance and insinuates that the response to it is known or predictable. The inappropriateness of the statement is due to the sender’s erroneous assumptions about Common Ground. To communicate these assumptions, the insinuator, by producing the utterance—in addition to performing an overt speech act (called F(P))—implicitly conveys the indirect speech act (called M(Q)), which violates the Maxim of Manner for cultural reasons. Therefore, they create a specific type of indirect speech act, called insinuation, the only linguistic exponent of which is rising intonation. Such utterances are considered a type of assertive rising declaratives (ARD) and are termed “expressive assertion”. Finally, three groups of expressive assertion are distinguished, based on their function in communication: utterances questioning intellectual abilities, utterances questioning the rationale behind the insinuations, and utterances questioning the truth of propositions or presuppositions.