Resumen de Construcciones locales y temporales con todo /a: acomodación y negación
The aim of this paper is to investigate the negative local and temporal constructions formed with todo/a in a preverbal position; specifically, its behavior and origin. It is well known that some prepositional phrases with the quantifier todo/a and a nominal phrase of temporal or local meaning behave as terms of negative polarity in Spanish, but only when they are in a preverbal position and without a negative inductor (en toda la noche cesó de derramar lágrimas). This paper argues that the temporal or local prepositional phrase does not lose its meaning in these cases, but it rather activates the negative value of the structure in which it occurs. Thus, this construction does not function exactly as a negation marker, but as a contextual activator of the negation of the structure where it appears ―that is, as an example of a disguised negation. Among these constructions with todo/a, however, the one formed with the noun vida as a core must be distinguished, since it is in fact grammaticalized as an authentic element of negation.
