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A Surface Structure Constraint on Negation in Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

María-Luisa Rivero
María-Luisa Rivero*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
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Abstract

This paper argues that there is a surface structure condition in Spanish which allows only one negative particle no to appear as a constituent of each simplex sentence in surface structure. As a result, the number of grammatical negations has no correlation with the number of S-nodes originally found in deep structure in those trees which have lost S-nodes in the course of their derivation. This hypothesis is supported by structures which have undergone Equi-NP Deletion, by sentences with quantifiers, with adjectives, and with certain adverbs, by certain comparative sentences, and by so-called simple sentences.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 1970 , pp. 640 - 666
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 Linguistic Society of America

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