Particles, disjunctions and inquisitivity in Avar

Abstract: This paper discusses a previously neglected disjunction strategy in Avar (NE Caucasian), whereby each disjunct is accompanied by a morphologically complex disjunction marker =nigi yet the disjunction is not interpreted exclusively, unlike the reduplicated discontinuous disjunctions like soit_soit in French.

The disjunction marker is exponentially identical with the particle attaching to indefinites and turning them into polarity items: šib=nigi ‘what=POL (ie someting/nothing)’ as well as the marker of concessivity that attaches to verbs. In this paper I attempt to unify the approach to particles developed by Wiltschko (2016) with the analysis of particle float in Avar (Rudnev 2015).

This is a talk presented at the 37th installment of TaBu Dag, an annual general linguistics conference organised by the University of Groningen, 3rd June 2016.

• The handout is available here.
• Alternatively, you can view the slides here.