Tree Diagrams can be useful to structure a sentence, but the UG system of “assume one system fits every language cuz inherent ability” is bad.

If you want to check your understanding of how phrases, clauses and words connect to each other in a certain language, trees can be pretty powerful.

To the latter point: My biggest gripe with linguistics is the tendency to boil everything down to a simple system.

Do you want to elaborate more on how politeness cant be explained by gricean maximes?

Here the need part: you dont. Because chomskyite grammar sucks sweaty balls.

Tbf, by my second run through Intro to Pragmatics i got the maxims. But our prof had some really strange interpretations of them.

Ah the gricean maximes, the bane of my intro to pragmatics class

As long as I and only I get to define that term, yes.