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Article In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2026
Edited by Remco Knooihuizen, Marloes Oomen and Alex Reuneker
[Nota Bene 3:2] 2026
► pp. 1–

A conjunctive coordination phrase-based analysis of Palestinian ‘or wh-word’ questions

 | Zefat Academic College
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Abstract
This paper argues that Palestinian alternative questions corresponding to the English ‘or wh-word’ questions (OWQs) such as Are you coming or what? have a more articulated structure than it is assumed (see Biezma, María & Kyle Rawlins. 2017. Or what? Semantics and Pragmatics. 10(16). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). It is grounded on the thesis that the Palestinian counterpart of “or” willa/walla ‘and-if-not’ in OWQs is a non-atomic primitive comprising the conjunctive coordinator AND, the conditional complementizer IF, and the negative operator NOT. Such a perspectival shift yields the conjunctive coordination phrase-based analysis of OWQs, where the coordination-head selects two semantic arguments: the polar question and the conditional question with a negative antecedent. Main evidence comes from morphosyntactic facts, ban on “yes and no” response, and focusing the NOT component part of willa/walla. If our account is correct, the syntax of focus-structure turns to be the Archimedian anchor for inquisitivity analysis (cf. a different view by Dayal, Veneeta. 2025. The Interrogative left periphery: How a clause becomes a question. Linguistic Inquiry 56(4). 663–712. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), contra the in-situ focus-interpretation approach championed by Rooth, Mats. 1992. A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 11. 75–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and his followers.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Main data
  • 2.Walla as equivalent to ‘and-if-not’
    • 2.1Distributional evidence
  • 3.WWQs as conjunctive
    • 3.1Defense of the proposed syntax of WWQs
      • 3.1.1Evidence from the Excluded Middle
      • 3.1.2Evidence from focusing the chunk ‘not’ of walla ‘and-if-not’
      • 3.1.3Evidence from the ‘independent’ occurrence of WWQs
      • 3.1.4Evidence from negative biased PolQs
      • 3.1.5Evidence from rogative complement-embedding verbs
      • 3.1.6Evidence from the asymmeric relation between the two questions of WWQs
      • 3.1.7Evidence from walla šu weenta ‘or what when’ questions
      • 4.1.8Evidence for the hierarchical structure
      • 3.1.9Evidence from AltQs consisting of two PolQs
      • 3.1.10Evidence from the occurrence of willa/walla in negative conditional antecedent of a threat- scenario context
  • 4.Conclusion and some theoretical implications
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (17)
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