Comparison of Split Infinitives in Pakistani and British English: A Corpus-based Investigation

Split Infinitives in Pakistani and British English: A Corpus-based Investigation

Abstract

This article investigates split infinitives in Pakistani English and British English using
Kachru‘s (1985) concentric circles framework. Beginning with a brief description of
split infinitives, the article explores the most common ‗breakers‘ in Pakistani English
(outer circle) and their variations in terms of use as compared to British English (inner
circle). By using sketch engine, findings reveal that the use of split infinitives in inner
circle and outer circle Englishes exhibit similarities and differences. In Pakistani English
newspaper corpus, ‗immediately‘ appears to be the most frequently used breaker in split
infinitives under ‗RB‘ adverb tag whereas in BNC (Newspaper), the most common
breaker is ‗really‘. The seemingly contradicting data indicates that the split between
inner and outer circle Englishes is not same as initially hypothesized by Kachru.