Comparing ( ’t) schijnt to (zo) schijnt het (lit. ‘so seems it’), the parenthetical use of the verb schijnen ‘seem’, we argue that ( ’t) schijnt is best analysed as an evidential particle. Although both parenthetical and particle uses of schijnen have been subject to particulization, viz. grammaticalization towards particlehood, this grammaticalization path is bifurcated; while ( ’t) schijnt is best accounted for by the matrix clause hypothesis, (zo) schijnt het fits the parataxis hypothesis and is less grammaticalized, not having reached particle status yet. The possible further grammaticalization of (zo) schijnt het into a more particle-like element is discussed on the basis of recent developments in Netherlandic Dutch, suggesting that distinct grammaticalization paths may lead to similar outcomes. This study calls attention to the need to allow for a certain flexibility of categories when considering cases of grammaticalization such as those affecting schijnen, bearing in mind that each individual instance of ( ’t) schijnt or (zo) schijnt het can be more or less central to the idealized categories of matrix clause, parenthetical or particle
