Dominant Language Constellations of Russian Speakers in Cyprus

This study examines Dominant Language Constellations (DLCs) of Russian speakers in Cyprus. Both questionnaires and oral interviews were implemented for data collection. The participants of the study were 30 international Russian-speaking students studying and residing in Cyprus (17–26 years old) and 50 adult females, native speakers of Russian, members of Russian monolingual or mixed-marriage families (31–65 years old). They come from Russia, Ukraine and Moldova and belong to middle socio-economic class. The analysis of the data revealed that female adults have either Russian or mixed (Russian and Cypriot Greek) cultural and linguistic identity, while students have mainly mixed (Russian and English) identity. It was found that members of mixed-marriage families use Russian, English and Greek as their DLC, while for Russian women and students these languages are Russian and English. Russian is an integral DLC component of the three groups and plays the most prominent role in their individual, family and social lives. Immigration, social milieu, integrative and instrumental motivation affect the constitution, configuration and dynamics of their DLCs. As for language maintenance, nearly all female adult participants try to teach their children Russian at home and send their children to Russian lessons, where they learn to write and read in Russian.