Split infinitives across world Englishes: A corpus-based investigation
College
Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education
Department/Unit
Dept of English and Applied Linguistics
Document Type
Article
Source Title
Asian Englishes
Volume
20
Issue
3
First Page
242
Last Page
267
Publication Date
9-2-2018
Abstract
This article investigates split infinitives in 12 World Englishes using Kachru’s concentric circles framework. Beginning with a brief description of split infinitives, the article explores two significant aspects of splitting: the most common ‘breakers’, and split infinitive use across different genres and domains. Sourcing from the International Corpus of English, findings reveal that split infinitive use in Inner Circle and Outer Circle Englishes both exhibit similarities and differences. The seemingly contradicting data indicate that the split between Inner and Outer Circle Englishes is not as defined as Kachru initially hypothesized, but overlapping. While the similarities can partially be attributed to the prevailing first language (L1) prescriptive norms in the Outer Circle, the perceptible divergences in split infinitive use are mainly argued to involve subconscious substratum transfer and identity-formation processes; the deviations from L1 norms can be viewed as a sign of nativization and, perhaps, differentiation from their ex-colonizers or settlers’ English(es). © 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1080/13488678.2017.1349858
Recommended Citation
Gonzales, W. W., & Dita, S. N. (2018). Split infinitives across world Englishes: A corpus-based investigation. Asian Englishes, 20 (3), 242-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2017.1349858
Disciplines
English Language and Literature | Language and Literacy Education
Keywords
English language—Word order; English language—Variation
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