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This article reports a study on the impact of L2 Korean on L1 Chinese lexical diversity and grammar in written expressions by Chinese bilinguals proficient in Korean. The statistical analysis showed that the cross-linguistic effects of L2 on L1 were significant although such impact was bidirectional. There were significantly more grammar errors and longer retrieval time committed by the bilingual group which implied negative L2 transfer to L1. Meanwhile, L2 also showed a positive influence on lexical diversity as there was no decline in lexical richness but an increase in lexical variations, and this indicated that L2-induced patterns did not replace or deteriorate L1 but instead added additional options to L1 expressions. This phenomenon can be characterized as the addition of new concepts and linguistic options to the already-existing L1 and conceptual repertoire. Specifically, meta-linguistic competence was enhanced. This research supports the theory of interference on L1 by the use of L2 (negative transfer), but it could also be enhanced by L2 (positive transfer).

Recent developments in the acquisition of third languages (L3A) have only placed an emphasis on the influence of L1 or L2 on L3A (forward transfer). However, this study investigated the role of L1 or L3 in L2A (backward transfer), by focusing on cross-linguistic variations in generic interpretation on plural NPs. We examined how multilingual (L2 and L3) learners interpret nominals in generic contexts. Two experiments (an acceptability judgement task and a truth value judgement task) are conducted to investigate the influence of L1 and L3 on L2A (English) by third language (L3) learners. We looked at whether these learners exhibit backward transfer in the acquisition of generic NPs in English. The results of the two experiments suggest that the influence of L3 is more significant in L2A of English than that of L1. Therefore, in terms of backward transfer, the results are more supportive of the Foreign Language Effect which implies that cognitive similarities play an important role in L2A for L3 learners. In conclusion, for those multilinguals, it is important to factor the L3 (high foreignness) influence when acquiring L2 (high foreignness) because L3 transfer is more important than L1 (non-foreign) transfer.

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