(Changing) polarity in additive connectors

Abstract

Additive connectors are closely related to polarity, although the fields that explore the text level connection between clauses and the ones that explore polarity inside clauses belong to very different points of view in today’s linguistics. The aim of this paper is to develop a unified approach to these phenomena by providing a set of truth presuppositions to bring together additive connection, and both negative and positive polarity. The paper is based on data concerning Basque ere, which appears attached to several clausal elements and gives rise to units that are similar to English also, any and even. Ere bearing polar elements may be negative, positive or even alternating. Ere only attaches to a closed list of items within the set of Basque polarity items. The main aim of this paper is to explore the features shared by all these units, which are only related by means of the particle ere.