Icelandic exclamatives and the structure of the CP layer

This paper discusses the rich array of clausal exclamatives in Icelandic. It is shown here that Icelandic has three kinds of simple exclamatives (. Wh-exclamatives, XP-exclamatives and M-exclamatives) as well as various combinations of these three types. A structural analysis of clausal exclamatives in Icelandic is proposed, according to which they involve up to three functional projections in the CP layer: ExclP (Exclamative Phrase), HDegP (High Degree Phrase) and WhP (Wh Phrase). Clausal exclamatives are also shown to fall into two groups with respect to the possibility of subject-verb inversion and the use of the complementizer sem.