Crosslinguistic Influence on the Korean Reflexive Caki: Potential Effects of L2 English on L1 Interpretation

This study explores bidirectional crosslinguistic influence in the interpretation of reflexive pronouns, with a focus on whether L2 English experience induces a regressive L2-to-L1 influence among Korean and Azerbaijani learners. Whereas the English reflexives himself/herself, the Korean caki-casin, and the Azerbaijani öz follow strict syntactic constraints that allow only clause-mate antecedents, the Korean reflexive caki involves additional semantic and discourse factors, making it potentially more susceptible to crosslinguistic influence. Eighty-four L2 English learners (44 L1-Korean, 40 L1-Azerbaijani) completed a picture-based truth-value judgment task in English and in their respective L1s. The task manipulated context (long-distance vs. local) and pronominal type (simple vs. reflexive pronoun). Results showed that all learner groups performed in a target-like manner in English. In their L1, the Azerbaijani participants and Korean participants tested on caki-casin demonstrated consistent local binding, whereas the Koreans tested on caki exhibited considerable variability. Notably, Korean participants with higher proficiency in English showed stricter and more monolithic categorical interpretation patterns—favoring long-distance bindings while disallowing local bindings—than did lower-proficiency participants, suggesting that exposure to L2 English may modulate L1 interpretive preferences. Based on these results, we suggest that caki may be particularly susceptible to crosslinguistic influence.