@article{ART003382460},
author={키타오카 다이호},
title={A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -},
journal={The Japanese Language Association of Korea},
issn={1229-7275},
year={2026},
number={89},
pages={145-160}
TY - JOUR
AU - 키타오카 다이호
TI - A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -
JO - The Japanese Language Association of Korea
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 89
PB - The Japanese Language Association Of Korea
SP - 145
EP - 160
SN - 1229-7275
AB - This paper proposes a preliminary descriptive typology of noun categorization in Japanese by examining the interaction among clausal animacy, numeral-classifier selection, and conceptual countability. It first distinguishes Japanese numeral classifiers from grammatical gender and noun-class systems. Unlike rigid agreement-based systems, Japanese classifiers constitute a semi-open inventory and allow contextually supported coercion, although nouns retain default classifier preferences.
The paper then considers hybrid nouns such as yuurei ‘ghost’ and shitai ‘corpse’, whose behavior suggests a mismatch between clausal animacy diagnostics and counting syntax. Yuurei patterns with non-human animates in interrogative and existential constructions but normally selects the human classifier -nin, whereas shitai behaves clausally as inanimate while permitting several classifiers, including marginal uses of the human classifier in some contexts.
Turning to the mass–count distinction, the paper takes the conventional Japanese classification into countable, uncountable, and flexible nouns as its starting point. Preliminary quantity judgments involving prototypically countable nouns such as hon ‘book’ and hito ‘person’ suggest that these nouns may also permit non-cardinal, aggregate, volume-based interpretations in constructed spatial contexts. If confirmed through controlled investigation, these observations would motivate a four-way conceptual taxonomy comprising countable, uncountable, flexible, and ambiguous nouns.
The proposed taxonomy remains compatible with the view that Japanese bare nouns are uniformly mass at the syntactic level. More broadly, the analysis suggests that Japanese noun categorization is not determined by a single, fixed lexical classification but rather emerges from the interaction of classifier choice, conceptual representation, and pragmatic context. The paper therefore offers a preliminary framework for further experimental and cross-linguistic research.
KW - classifiers;animacy gender;mass-count distinction;morphosyntax;Japanese
DO -
UR -
ER -
키타오카 다이호. (2026). A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -. The Japanese Language Association of Korea, 89, 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. 2026, "A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -", The Japanese Language Association of Korea, no.89, pp.145-160.
키타오카 다이호 "A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -" The Japanese Language Association of Korea 89 pp.145-160 (2026) : 145.
키타오카 다이호. A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -. 2026; 89 : 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. "A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -" The Japanese Language Association of Korea no.89(2026) : 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -. The Japanese Language Association of Korea, 89, 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -. The Japanese Language Association of Korea. 2026; 89 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -. 2026; 89 : 145-160.
키타오카 다이호. "A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -" The Japanese Language Association of Korea no.89(2026) : 145-160.
