Family Language Policy in the minority and migration contexts of Cyprus: The issues of heritage language (incomplete) acquisition, use, attrition, maintenance, and transmission.

This article examines the Family Language Policy (FLP) of second-generation immigrant and minority families in Cyprus, focusing on heritage language (HL) attrition, use, maintenance, and transmission across diverse linguistic backgrounds including Russian, Georgian, Arabic, and others. Using a mixed-methods approach with questionnaires and semi-structured interviews involving 30 participants, the study finds that these families exhibit hybrid linguistic and cultural identities, engage in multilingual practices such as code-switching, and maintain varying degrees of HL proficiency influenced by factors like age of onset to Greek, length of residence, parental language management, socioeconomic status, schooling, and social networks. The research highlights the important role of FLP, community language schools, and child agency in supporting HL development, while also noting challenges related to literacy and motivation. Overall, participants expressed positive attitudes toward multilingualism and recognized the necessity of both their heritage languages and the majority language (Cypriot Greek) for social integration and identity.