Coordination and focus particles (re?)united

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to sketch a unified semantics for coordination markers and focus particles. The main empirical motivation is found in the existence of some ‘multipractic’ particles in Serbian, ni and i, which serve as coordination markers, additive focus particles and scalar focus particles. A disjunction-based analysis can capture the polarity-sensitive behavior of ni, whereas i relies on a conjunction semantics. An approach that involves the exhaustification of alternatives is a crucial ingredient. Nonetheless, two types of exhaustification should be allowed—one corresponding to ‘only’ and the other one to ‘even’.