Craenenbroeck (2022)

• Craenenbroeck (van), Jeroen. 2022. 'Dutch specCP-expletives are main clause complementizers', The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, xx. texte.

Analyse d'un explétif de position initiale de phrase dans un groupe de dialectes de flamand de Belgique. Sa distribution est similaire à l'explétif Bez' en breton.

 Abstract:
 "This paper focuses on so-called specCP-expletives in Belgian Dutch dialects, a type of expletive that only occurs in clause-initial position. 
 The traditional account of these expletives is that they are phrases that are merged in specCP. This paper argues against this analysis, and proposes instead that they are the overt realizations of a C-head, i.e. that they are main clause complementizers. 
 The second(ary) theme of the paper is microvariation within the Belgian Dutch dialects with respect to the presence or absence of these specCP-expletives/main clause complementizers. I show this split to be part of a larger empirical generalization, and propose a parametric account for the difference between the two dialect groups."

 ...from the conclusion:
 "... 
 If my reanalysis of specCP-expletives as main clause complementizers is correct, then this means that even in a bona fide V2-language like Dutch, this constraint can be satisfied by a clause-initial head rather than a phrase. This goes against a long research tradition—going back at least to Den Besten (1989)—but at the same time it opens up possibilities for re-evaluating the relationship between V2- and VSO-languages (see in this respect Bury (2000) and Jouitteau (2008)). A second topic that deserves further consideration concerns the question to what extent the account developed here extends to the rest of Germanic. In particular: are there reasons to think that German es, Icelandic það, and Yiddish es should also be reanalyzed as main clause complementizers ?... "