An ‘alternative’ core for or

Abstract

Natural language or has long been analyzed as the logical connective ˅, where it is measured by its contribution to the truth-conditional content of the proposition it participates in. Its core meaning is then 'inclusive'. We here argue that 'inclusivity' is neither an actual discourse reading of or nor its core linguistic meaning. We offer a subjectivist analysis instead, whereby or's core is not truth-conditional. Or comes with a procedural, rather than conceptual core, instructing the addressee to construe the listed options as alternatives to each other. We define 'alternativity' as an unresolved competition between multiple options over a single slot, i.e., a single context-specific role. This means that the options are mutually exclusive. Crucially, however, on our account mutual exclusivity is not restricted to the objective world level. It can apply to non-propositional levels too. We can thus offer a unified account for or uses, most "non-disjunctive" ones included.