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

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.