Additive Presuppositions and Logical Strength

Abstract

This paper deals with the presuppositions of additive either. Our aim is to link the negative character of either’s presupposition to its being an NPI. We adopt the view that presuppositions translate as silent conjuncts whose content is taken by the interlocutors to follow from the local context and to strengthen the at-issue meaning. To explain why the presupposition of additive either features a negation we propose that the presuppositions of additive either actually originate as silent disjuncts. On the resulting analysis the negation that licenses additive either as an NPI is also responsible for the negation we see in its presupposition. Independent support for a disjunctive analysis of additive either is argued to come from the overtly disjunctive uses of either.