The research reveals that linguistic politeness in arguments in american courts shares great similarities with that in chinese courts ; negative politeness strategies are most frequently employed by lawyers , followed by positive politeness strategies and off record strategies . it is also found that such linguistic means as hedge , impersonalize s and h , give reasons , give deference , rhetorical questions and include both s and h in the activity are most favored by chinese and american lawyers 中美律师在法庭辩论中最常用的是消极礼貌策略，其次是积极礼貌策略和非公开的礼貌策略；律师最常用的实现礼貌的语言形式依次是：模糊限制语、说话人和听话人非个人化、提供原因、表达尊重、设问以及把说话人和听话人都包括在同一项活动中等。
