What’s In A Russian English Instagram Username? (on the Material of the Russian Version of the English language)

Abstract

The present paper examines Instagram usernames of Russian speakers of English. It aims to classify over a hundred Russian English Instagram usernames (collected between 2016- 2021) in terms of their structure, typical linguistic features as well as translingual and transcultural patterns that underpin their creation. This paper argues that Russian speakers of English consciously and / or subconsciously creating their usernames employ a number of translingual and transcultural strategies and practices that are aimed at retaining and transmitting Russian linguacultural identity within such global multicultural English-dominated domain as Instagram. Apart from signalling Russian identity of their owners, the analyzed usernames demonstrate that Russian Instagram users being bilingual en masse (at least, at a graphic level), do draw on Russian English for communication within the landscape of this social media thus facilitating further formation of the Instagram Russian English.