Either... or... Constructions: An HPSG Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the syntactic and semantic properties of the either… or… construction and to present its formalization within HPSG. In terms of the syntax of the either… or… construction, I will argue that the Symmetry Condition can be captured properly by introducing an ellipsis-based constraint within HPSF and the Left Bracket Thesis by analyzing either as modifier to the or-disjunctive phrases. In terms of the semantics of the either… or… construction, I will demonstrate that syntactic treatments such as QR analysis and type raising can not derive the wide scope or readings of the either… or… construction in a precise way, and propose a lexical approach in which either functions as a type of the operator indicating a disjunctive scope.