Disjunction with additives

Abstract

We present compositional semantic analyses of complex disjunction involving an additive particle in Igbo and Thai. In Igbo, complex disjunction is constructed with an additive particle and a possibility modal in the first clause. We analyze this structure as involving conjoined possibilities, along the lines of Zimmermann’s (2000) analysis of disjunction. In Thai, the relevant construction involves a combination of negation and an additive particle which is independently observed in conditionals. We analyze this construction as an indicative conditional with a negated consequent of the form ‘if p, then not q’. We examine predictions of these analyses and discuss their implications, especially on the role of additive particles and modality in the realization of disjunctions cross-linguistically.