Verb Complementation in News Headlines by the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles

Abstract

The English language has survived the pangs of giving birth to its variations commonly called as World Englishes. Though there are many “Englishes” in the globe today, they do have similarities and differences which are manifested in the different styles employed by writers around the world. In this regard, the study aimed to analyze the structure of verb phrases in news headlines of the different countries in Kachru’s three concentric circles leading to the identification of types of verbs used. This is done to give fresher ideas into the style of headline writing by understanding what types of verbs are used by the writers from the inner, outer, and expanding circles. Using Brinton, L and Brinton, D’s (2010) structure of verb complementation, the researchers analyzed five news headlines per circle which served as their corpus in identifying the complements present in the verb phrases. This, furthermore, led to the following results: a) inner and outer circles mostly use monotransitive verbs, b) outer circle is characterized by its use of copulative verbs, inner circle by its usage of intransitive verb, and the expanding circle by its usage of prepositional and ditransitive verbs c) expanding and inner circles use diprepositional verbs while outer circle does not, d) the expanding and outer circles both use complex transitive, e) the expanding circle exhibits the characteristics of both inner and outer circles, and f) the circles overlap each other.