IRE: A Hypothesis or a Theory?

What’s In A Russian English Username? A Case Study of Social Media Accounts Names

“…Since its introduction, the World Englishes (WE) paradigm [1] has been extensively used as a research framework for various varieties of English within different domains, including digital media discourse represented by social media networks, such as Google, Facebook * , Instagram * , Twitter ** , YouTube and such [2]. Although the Russian variety of English or Russian English as an Expanding Circle variety has been generally acclaimed worldwide [3][4][5] and analyzed from a range of perspectives in a number of contexts [6][7][8], Instagram * Russian English (IRE) has rarely been the focus of scholars' attention [9]. Moreover, Instagram * usernames at large, albeit those created by the Russian speakers of English, have virtually never been the exclusive object of either WE or digital media discourse research despite the fact that, according to certain sources, the social media is considered to be one of the top five most popular social media networks by reach in 2020 1 .…”

Teaching Russian Culture via English: Implications, Objectives and Challenges

“…Moreover, Russian English generally functions not only as a means of communication for educated Russians in various settings, but also serves as a tool for expressing Russian identity and Russian culture -that is, Russian worldviews, lifestyles, and values -in a word, everything that constitutes Russianness. Due to these factors, the Russian variety of English is recognizable not only by Russian users of English, but also by the many speakers of other English varieties, even in the Instagram [7].…”