Abstract
The arguments against the Expanding Circle (EC) Englishes being varieties in their own right are often provoked by terminological inaccuracies both in professional and folk-linguistic debate. The aim of the article is to particularize the concept of Russian English by highlighting the differences between Russian English as an EC variety per se and a number of English-related forms and practices in Russian-based intranational communication, which also might be referred to as Russian English or Rus(s)lish/Runglish. The article discusses the notion of Ruslish in detail, drawing on the recent surveys of hybrid Englishes, or X-lishes in World Englishes theory. The study provides a qualitative analysis of a corpus of examples illustrating different conceptualizations of Ruslish and some of its major tokens. As a result, Ruslish in the narrow sense of the term, as the basilectal sub-variety of Russian English, is distinguished from Ruslish as a broader language-contact concept embracing various cases of English-Russian interaction, primarily the Englishization of Russian, which is closer to its folk metalinguistic interpretation. A special emphasis is placed on the cases of mock Russian English/Ruslish, a form of bilingual language play, a linguistic parody, when distinctive features of Russian English or Ruslish are exaggerated and ironically quoted in styling the Other. The article also follows the translanguaging approach to hybrid Englishes investigation and some emergent practices of translanguaging in written English-Russian interaction, specifically some cases of Roman-Cyrillic trans-scripting, or trancripting, are tentatively defined as new Ruslish.
Highlights
The status of Expanding Circle (EC) Englishes alongside the Inner Circle (IC) and Outer Circle (OC) English varieties is “a thorny subject of incessant metalinguistic and sociolinguistic discussions” (Proshina 2019: 233) in both professional and lay debate
What is referred to as Russian English or Ruslish often differs from the rigorous sociolinguistic treatment of the English language variety spoken by Russians, though there might be a good deal of shared forms with or deliberate language play on Russian English distinctive features
That includes the cases defined in this article as “folk Russian English/Ruslish,” “mock Russian English/Ruslish,” and “new Ruslish.”
Summary
The status of Expanding Circle (EC) Englishes alongside the Inner Circle (IC) and Outer Circle (OC) English varieties is “a thorny subject of incessant metalinguistic and sociolinguistic discussions” (Proshina 2019: 233) in both professional and lay debate. Similar to other EC countries, the majority of Russian speakers tend to discuss a number of English-related forms and practices, especially those which are frowned upon in Russian-speaking society, under the rubric of “Ruslish” (“Russlish,” “Runglish,” etc.).. A special focus will be made on the cases when distinctive features of Russian English or Ruslish are exaggerated and played on. These cases are described in terms of “styling the Other” and “mock language” research. This article will discuss some emergent practices of translanguaging in written English-Russian interaction that are tentatively termed “new Ruslish.”
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