First, this dissertation analyzes the syntactic aspects involved in the expression of sentential negation no 'not' in Spanish. The relevant data consists of clauses where sentential no 'not' is obligatory in the absence of preverbal n-phrases and clauses containing preverbal n-phrases where sentential no 'not' must be absent, must be present, and where it is optional. I argue that Spanish n-phrases are existential indefinites containing the feature [nonveridical] (Giannakidou 2000). I claim that preverbal n-phrases may be Focus or Topic constituents in Spec,FocP or Spec,TopP, (Rizzi, 1997) respectively. I also argue that sentential negation is syntactically expressed in Pole (Zanuttini 1994), which contains a [u neg] that must be eliminated. This may be achieved by the [nonveridical] feature of an n-phrase moving through Spec,PolP or by lexicalization as no 'not' as a PF operation in case no such movement occurs before Spell-Out. No 'not' is present when no preverbal n-phrase exists, when a preverbal n-phrase merges in the left-periphery, or when it moves there after PolP is sent to PF. No 'not' is absent when a preverbal n-phrase moves to the left-periphery before PolP is sent to PF.;This dissertation also analyzes the syntactic requirements involved in the association of constituents with sentential negation. Spanish allows left-peripheral constituents to be associated with negation, which contrasts with languages like English where this is impossible. I argue that association with negation is part of the more general phenomenon of licensing by negation. I show that Spanish and English differ with respect to association with negation in the same way they do in the licensing of NPIs and n-phrases. I use Kuno's (1995) proposal that two principles are responsible for licensing. His Condition on Licensing, which dictates that, upon its entrance in the derivation, a licenser must c-command the licensee, is operative in the two languages. His Anti-Superiority Condition on Licensees, which basically dictates that a licensee cannot c-command its licenser, is subject to cross-linguistic and language-internal variation. While in English it is an overt condition for NPI licensing but an LF condition for association with negation, it is inoperative in Spanish.
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