14.2 Clausal coordination 70714.2.2 Clausal 'or' and 'whether'
The disjunctive coordinator mer can be used to link clauses. The normal sense
is that at least one of the respective propositions is true. There is no
"conjunction reduction" and the second verb has its regular main-clause
inflection.
(885) i-ldas mer i-rhin
3MaSgS-be.weary.Reslt or 3MaSgS-be.sick.Reslt
'He's tired or he's sick.'
mer can be used as a 'whether' conjunction on the second of two parallel
clauses. Another conjunction waeld (from Arabic, but also in Songhay) can
also be used in this construction in place of mer.
(886) war sssen-asr [a-jaeraw
Neg know.PerfN-lSgS [Ma-get. VblN
[a war aje-n
[Foe Neg do.PerfN-3MaPlS
[a-\dd asa-n]]], mer
[DemACentrip arrive.ShImpf-3MaPlS]]] or
[t-aerha [a-\d war aje-n [ass]]]
[Fe-wish [Foc-XComit Neg do.PerfN-3MaPlS arrive.Shlmpf]]
Ί don't know whether it was because they were too busy [focus] to
come, or whether they didn't want [focus] to come.