In order to consider definitions of Japanese NCs, the meaning of the term ‘numeral classifier’ should first be clarified. There are a number of terms used when discussing counting expressions in Japanese: numeral classifiers, quantifiers, measure words, mensural words, etc. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes defined in slightly different ways.
Iwasaki (2013, p. 74) claims that there are three types of numeric phrases in Japanese: a numeral suffixed by a measure word, a quantifier, and a numeral classifier (NC) (Iwasaki, 2013, p. 74). Measure words are used to express an object’s length, weight, volume, or a period of time. For example, ichi-meetoru (one meter) and ni- kiro (two kilograms / two kilometers) are expressions involving measure words.
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Quantifiers are characterised as quantifying an object’s amount by giving an outline with a concrete container. Iwasaki lists, for instance, hito-hako (one box of) and mi- saji (three spoonfuls of) as examples of quantifiers. Their function is similar to English quantifiers such as ‘a glass of water’ and ‘a loaf of bread’. Quantifiers generally provide the referent with an outline and also involve some minimum information relevant to the nature of the referent, so there are still certain ‘correct’ quantifiers for some referents. It is the same in English, in that ‘a bottle of bread’ is not acceptable.22
Lastly, Iwasaki mentions that NCs differ from measures and quantifiers in that they are used to count objects which have a clear outline (Iwasaki, 2013, p. 75).
Regarding the difference between quantifiers and NCs, Iwasaki takes up a syntactic point as well. He argues that quantifiers can be preceded by a specifier, which gives an outline to mass referents, which do not have a clear outline, whereas NCs cannot. For instance, with a word koppu (glass)’, ‘koppu (specifier) ni-hai (two- quantifier) no (genitive) mizu (water) (two glasses of water)’ is grammatically correct. According to Iwasaki, this is because quantifiers do not count the referent itself but the number of containers. On the other hand, NCs directly count the referent itself, for example, ‘san-biki (three-NC) no (genitive) kobuta (piglet)’ (Iwasaki, 2013, p. 76). More importantly, when discussing differences between NCs and other numeric phrases, it should be noted that NCs serve to semantically classify nouns in some way, as discussed in the previous section (Aikhenvald, 2000; Allan, 1977; Denny, 1976). Like other classifiers, NCs are also generally considered to denote perceivable characteristics of entities. In this regard, NCs can be distinguished from quantifiers, which do not really have a meaning that relates directly to the intrinsic properties of the referent but work simply as containers for a wide range of possible entities.
22 In Japanese, there are also lexical items which can also be thought of as quantifiers, but which do not co-occur with a numeral and refer to quantity in less precise ways, such as takusan (many, a lot) and sukoshi (a little).
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However, attention should be paid to the fact that, in the list of quantifiers provided by Iwasaki, both kai 回 and do 度 appear, both of which are used exclusively to count events and actions. Nevertheless, neither of these can be used with a specifier, because they do not describe a container used to outline referents that lack their own, natural boundary. In addition, Iwasaki’s classification, which includes kai and do as quantifiers, is not completely consistent with that of other scholars. Iida includes kai and also ken件, which is used for incidents, enquiries, and accidents, as NCs in her discussion (Iida, 1999). Downing and Matsumoto also treat ken as an NC (Downing, 1996; Matsumoto, 1991, p. 58), but include neither kai nor do. These classifiers used for events and actions (kai 回, do 度 and ken 件) though frequently used and often appearing in previous studies, have not been deeply discussed. However, their nature is clearly related to that of the second target NC of this thesis, hatsu 発, which can also be used when counting events and actions. Therefore, these classifiers are more closely examined in section 2.4.6 below. In the following sections, when any of these classifiers are treated as an NC in the original literature, they are ‘tentatively’ referred to as an NC in this review as well.
It has also been pointed out that some nouns seem to play the role of NCs in some cases, and the question of whether or not these nouns should be regarded as NCs has been discussed (Tanaka, 2012; Tojo, 2014). For example, in the phrases ‘san- daigaku (three-universities)’, and ‘ni-tenpo (two-shops)’, the nouns daigaku (university) and tenpo (shop) occur in the same position as NCs such as hiki and hon in ‘san-biki (three-CL: small animate beings)’ and ‘ni-hon (two-CL: long and thin objects)’.
These two nouns (‘university’ and ‘shop’) in the phrases above directly follow a numeral to make a numeric phrase just as NCs do. Downing (1996, p. 15) notes that these kinds of nouns are used to denote abstract referents such as units of time, colours, kinds, grades, classes, and geographical areas. She calls these nouns, which can be directly attached to a numeral and used as a set of ‘numeral and NC’, ‘unclassified
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nouns’. Downing actually does not regard these unclassified nouns as NCs from a syntactic point of view. Downing points out that these unclassified nouns cannot co- occur with a noun denoting the referent while genuine numeral classifiers can, as in the examples below.23
(2-1)
a. 大学 を 三大学 つくった
daigaku o san-daigaku tsukut-ta university ACC three-university establish-PAST
[They] established three universities.
b. 車 を 一台 買った
kuruma o ichi-dai kat-ta car ACC one-CL buy-PAST
[I] bought a car.
In (2-1a), a noun daigaku (university) is used as an NC (underlined), but daigaku also appears as a standalone object at the top of the sentence (bolded), thus it sounds repetitive and quite unnatural. On the other hand, the referent noun ‘car’ can co-occur with its NC dai (an NC for machines and vehicles) perfectly naturally in (2- 1b).
From the grammatical role and behaviour of Japanese NCs, Downing proposes three criteria as follows:
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1. It may directly follow a numeral.24
2. It readily co-occurs with a noun denoting the referent whose number is indicated by the numeral-classifier construction.
3. In denotes a natural unit of the referent, whose (usually but not necessarily inherent) characteristics dictate its choice.
(Downing, 1996, p. 16)
Downing aims to distinguish genuine numeral classifiers from unclassified nouns on the basis of the syntactic test in the second criterion above.
From a syntactic perspective, Tanaka (2012) also raises a question regarding nouns that can be used as an NC. He claims that there is a continuum between NCs and nouns and that while these nouns have some of the syntactic properties of regular NCs, they don’t share them all. One example given by Tanaka is shown below:
(2-2)
a. 東京 都立 大学 など ４大学 を
Tokyo toritsu daigaku nado yon-daigaku o Tokyo metropolitan university and.so.on 4-university ACC
廃止し…
haishi-shi... abolish…
24 Though Downing states ‘It “may” directly follow a numeral’, she also supplementarily mentions that this criteria is ‘fulfilled by all NCs’ (Downing, 1996, p. 16).
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[They decided to] abolish four universities, including the Tokyo Metropolitan University...
b. 東京 都立 大学 など を 4 大学
*Tokyo toritsu daigaku nado o yon-daigaku Tokyo metropolitan university and.so.on ACC 4-university
廃止し…
haishi-shi... abolish…
[They decided to] abolish four universities, including the Tokyo Metropolitan University...
(Tanaka, 2012, p. 123)
According to Tanaka, example (2-2a) is grammatical, but (2-2b) is not. This is because the numeric phrase yon-daigaku (4-university) in (2-2b) is in the adverb position (the syntactic positioning of NCs is discussed in (2.4.1.2)), and this position is not available for nouns used in the role of an NC.
Tojo (2014) points to another way in which these kinds of nouns denoting abstract referents do behave like NCs, that is, the fact that they can be attached to the question word nan- ‘how many’, which means that they can be attached to any numeral. For example, since nan-shurui (how many kinds) is grammatically fine, the noun - shurui (kind) can take any numeral and thus work like a classifier. For other examples, daigaku (university), tenpo (shop), and gengo (language) can be used with ‘nan- (how many)’ as well. Tojo considers that these nouns in the role of classifiers are used to supplement the NC system in Japanese.
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From these studies, it is clearly accepted that there are nouns which can play the role of NCs, but the question of whether or not they should be regarded as a type of NC or not is still under debate. Also, it is considered that these nouns tend to be used for abstract referents. This is because the majority of Japanese NCs are used for entities, and there are not many NCs for abstract referents, thus these nouns are used instead.