Abstract
This study examines the plural suffixes of Korean –tul and Japanese –tachi. In the two languages, countable nouns do not have to be obligatorily marked for plurality despite the existence of plural markers. It is well documented that when nouns occur with these plural markers, they not only mark plurality but also denote an added meaning. After careful examination of occurrences/non-occurrences of these suffixes, we challenge previous claims that “Definiteness” is at work in the marked reading, and instead, propose that the marked reading of such nouns are [+specific] for both Korean and Japanese, following the definitions of “Specificity” and “Definiteness” given by Ioni, Ko and Wexler. Furthermore, we claim that the “associative” reading that is only available to Japanese –tachi is responsible for the strong tendency of the Japanese plural suffix to be construed as a marked reading rather than a mere plural reading.
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Notes
- 1.
We found several utterances of inanimate nouns with –tachi in Japanese. The following is the one of the examples from an interview with an architect who was looking at the old wood materials affectionately:
Naga-nen tsukatte-kita zairyō-tachi desu kara…
Many-years using material-plural be so
“(They are) the materials we have been using for a long time, so…”
- 2.
In comparing the Korean-Japanese bilingual articles in Choongang Ilbo Newspaper (Jan. 12, 2013), we found significantly more uses of –tul such as kwukmin- tul “people” and celmun kica- tul “young journalists” in the Korean version than Japanese counterparts kokumin-* tachi and wakai kisha-* tachi.
- 3.
The –tul and –tachi are written in bold to highlight the contrast.
- 4.
Whether or not this category [+definite, –specific] is applicable to all the languages is unclear. See Sect. 4 for our discussion on this.
- 5.
Asterisks indicate that adding a plural suffix is not acceptable in the given context.
- 6.
We would like to thank Professor Chung-Kon Shi of KAIST in Daejon, Korea for his help with Middle Korean data and analyses.
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Lee, K., Cho, Ym.Y., Park, MY. (2018). Unmarked Plurality and Specificity in Korean and Japanese Plural Nouns: A Preliminary Study. In: Hebert, D. (eds) International Perspectives on Translation, Education and Innovation in Japanese and Korean Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68434-5_8
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