Gender agreement with exclusive disjunction in Slovenian Cover Image

Gender agreement with exclusive disjunction in Slovenian
Gender agreement with exclusive disjunction in Slovenian

Author(s): Franc Lanko Marušič, Zheng Shen
Subject(s): Semantics
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Slovenian; conjunct agreement; exclusive disjunction; resolution; default gender

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses two issues: 1. Empirically, we report novel experimental data on agreement with exclusively disjoined subjects in Slovenian; 2. Theoretically, we look into the nature of attested agreement strategies with coordinated NPs. In particular, we investigate how these strategies behave under coordinators with different semantics, i.e. exclusive disjunction and conjunction. Based on the elicitation results, we argue that closest conjunct agreement, resolved agreement, and highest conjunct agreement are all present under exclusive disjunction to different extents, which suggests a uniform set of agreement strategies under disjunction and conjunction despite the semantic difference. Further, we argue against the presence of default agreement under both disjunction and conjunction in Slovenian, and argue for a particular set of gender resolution rules.

  • Issue Year: 68/2021
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 516-535
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English