Goal: Explore options for phrasal coordination
Note: Typical basic coordination options include “and, but, or.”
Tip: The comitative can double as a coordinator meaning “and.”
Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try
Today’s goal shifts focus to coordination strategies, focusing specifically on phrasal coordination. The most common basic coordinating conjunctions include options for “and” and “or” (though you may also have “but” as a phrasal coordinator). In other words, languages typically have a way to add two or more phrases together into unit (i.e. “and”) and to select one out of a set of phrases (i.e. “or”).
You can have more variety than just having a single word for each semantic relationship, such as languages that have an inclusive “or” versus an exclusive “or.” An inclusive “or” means any of the options listed will do, such as “Applicants need a related degree or five years of experience.” Obviously, employers would be happy to take applicants with both, but they only necessarily need to meet one of the qualifications. On the other hand, exclusive “or” means one and only one option can be selected, as in a flight attendant asking you “Do you want the vegetarian pasta or the roasted chicken?” You don’t get to choose both—you can only select one or the other.
For joining noun phrases, some languages use the comitative (e.g. “with” as an adposition or a comitative case) to mean “and.” The sentence “I saw Joelle with Marlie at the park” means roughly the same thing as “I saw Joelle and Marlie at the park.” You may decide that a comitative form doubles as a coordination strategy for noun phrases in your language.
Look at examples in other languages to get ideas for how you might treat coordination, including word choice (what lexical units serve as conjunctions) and grammar (how phrases are ordered relative to each other and to the coordinating conjunction).