betweenwhether

Betweenwhether is a neologism used in linguistics and philosophy of language to describe a stance, question, or statement that blends the idea of choosing between alternatives with uncertainty about which alternative is correct or applicable. It characterizes talk that simultaneously references two options and questions their truth or likelihood.

Origin and usage: The term combines the preposition between with the conjunction whether. It is not part of standard grammar and has limited attestation, appearing primarily in informal discussions, discourse analysis, or theoretical explorations of decision framing. As a fringe or experimental label, it is typically introduced to illustrate how speakers manage contrastive options alongside epistemic doubt.

Definition and senses: In one sense, betweenwhether denotes an interrogative frame that asks listeners to consider two alternatives while remaining agnostic about which will occur. In another sense, it signals a cognitive or rhetorical stance of hedging between options. Example (illustrative): “We face a betweenwhether: should we launch now or wait for more data?” or “The plan faces a betweenwhether—will it succeed, or will it fail?”

Relation to related terms: It differs from ordinary whether questions and from the spatial sense of between. It is connected to discussions of hedging, disjunction in logic, and decision-framing studies. Because it is not widely adopted, it remains a niche label for analyzing particular forms of discourse. See also: hedging, disjunction, conditional sentence, decision framing.