Italian Agri-Food Products Abroad: Word Formation Processes on Instagram

The present study focuses on the identification and categorization of some cases of lexical adaptation and innovation, i.e., compounds, acronyms and borrowings, in the American Instagram accounts of nine agri-food Italian companies selling their products worldwide. The aim of the analysis is to investigate how and to what extent word formation processes in advertising discourse contribute to enhancing Italian products abroad and to promoting the ‘made in Italy’ concept. Examples of adapted and new terms gathered from the Instagram profile pages will be presented and examined within the promotional framework. Their presence will be then contextualised outside the American photo and video sharing social networking service to hypothesise their future lexicalisation.