Metaphorical Self-Identification of Russians in the in the Online Discourse

The article examines the problem of self-identification of Russian citizens at the present stage of development of society, examines the processes of constructing national-civic identity in Russian-language network discourse, and demonstrates that metaphorization plays a significant role in such processes, making it possible to explicate the most significant features of the constructed idealized community “Russians/Russians”. It is shown that self-identification of Russian-speaking participants in network communication is carried out according to a formula that includes a target sphere (“Russians/Russians”) and numerous source spheres of metaphorical expansion, which include “Home”, “Family”, “Organism”, “Reservoirs” and “Substances”. It is concluded that most metaphors actualize the passionarity of the Russian ethnos, its ability to unite and assimilate other peoples, which convincingly proves that the spontaneous non-professional self-identification of modern Russians does not contradict the principles that many philosophers, cultural scientists and sociologists have paid attention to.