Prototypes and Metaphorical Extensions: The Japanese Numeral Classifiers hiki and hatsu Hiroko Komatsu A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2018 Department of Japanese Studies School of Languages and Cultures Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Name: Hiroko Komatsu Signature: ……………………….. Date: ……..31 January 2018……. Abstract This study concerns the meaning of Japanese numeral classifiers (NCs) and, particularly, the elements which guide us to understand the metaphorical meanings they can convey. In the typological literature, as well as in studies of Japanese, the focus is almost entirely on NCs that refer to entities. NCs are generally characterised as being matched with a noun primarily based on semantic criteria such as the animacy, the physical characteristics, or the function of the referent concerned. However, in some languages, including Japanese, nouns allow a number of alternative NCs, so that it is considered that NCs are not automatically matched with a noun but rather with the referent that the noun refers to in the particular context in which it occurs. This study examines data from the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese, and focuses on two NCs as case studies: hiki, an entity NC, typically used to classify small, animate beings, and hatsu, an NC that is used to classify both entities and events that are typically explosive in nature. The study employs the framework of Prototype Theory, along with the theory of conceptual metaphor, and the theory of metonymy. The analysis of the data identified a number of semantic components for each of the target NCs; by drawing on these components, the speaker can subjectively add those meanings to modify the meaning of the referring noun or verb. Furthermore, the study revealed that the choice of NCs can be influenced by two factors. First, the choice of NC sometimes relates to the linguistic context in which the referring noun or verb occurs. For example, if a noun is used metaphorically, the NC is chosen to reinforce that metaphor, rather than to match with the actual referent. Second, the meaning of an NC itself can be used as a vehicle of metaphor to contribute meaning to that of the referring noun or verb concerned. Through the analysis, is has been identified that the range of referents of a single NC beyond cases in which objectively observable characteristics are evident occurs in two dimensions: (1) in terms of the typicality of referents and (2) across categories of referents (entities and events). Based on the findings, the study claims that, in both cases, non-literal factors account for extension in the range of referents of an NC in Japanese. Specifically, the non-literal devices of metaphor and metonymy appear to play a role in connecting an NC and its referent in the context in which extension of the use of that NC occurs. i Acknowledgements This thesis is the product of a journey of almost four years. I could not have finished this journey without the support, encouragement and understanding from the people around me. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone close to me. First of all, I am very grateful to my wonderful supervisor, Dr Nerida Jarkey, for her thoughtful guidance and extensive knowledge, as well as her endless support throughout my PhD candidature. Nerida has supported me in the best way possible in all aspects of my situation and condition. She generously spent a tremendous amount of time for our discussions, which always deepened my understanding and thoughts on my topic. I am so thankful that Nerida has given me not only academic advice on my thesis, but also incredible scholarly training that will be a valuable lesson I will forever treasure. In Nerida’s company I laughed a lot and sometimes cried, always filled with a sense of security and could be myself around her. She is truly the best, super supervisor for me. I could not even imagine that I would have achieved this goal without her. In each year of my candidature I had an amazing opportunity to meet other wonderful scholars and colleagues through the University of Sydney Japanese Symposium that Nerida organises, and received important support and feedback from them. I would like to thank Dr Harumi Minagawa, who kindly took the time to give me wise comments every time I asked her for help. I would also like to thank Professor Satoshi Uehara, who generously gave me a short private lecture, in which I gained new ideas that have become an important component of this thesis. I appreciate all the other symposium participants as they were all so welcoming and so willing to give me intellectual advice and hearty encouragement. I am also deeply indebted to all the staff in the School of Languages and Cultures. My sincere gratitude to Associate Professor Rebecca Suter, who has kindly supported me as part of my annual review panel throughout these four years, and also supervised me when I was working as a tutor. My heartfelt thanks go to the other panel members, Associate Professor Antonia Rubino, Dr Olivier Ansart, Dr Mats Karlsson, Dr Nesrine Basheer, as well as Dr Dwi Noverini Djenar, who gave me insightful advice when she was my auxiliary supervisor in my first year. I am so grateful that I was warmly supported by so many people in the School at all times throughout my candidature. My sincere gratitude goes to Dr Xiandong Liu and Dr Hiroko Koto, who have completed their doctoral degree under the supervision of the same supervisor, Dr Nerida Jarkey. They have both kindly encouraged me and given me warm, thoughtful advice. Hiroko has also helped me with obtaining literature from Japan, which were invaluable to my work. I could never thank Dr Yoko Yonezawa enough, my senior colleague and also a good friend at The Australian National University, for her kind support. She has generously spent a great amount of time brainstorming with me for my research, listening to me while I was going through hard times, and supporting me in numerous other ways. She is truly a special person who I have been fortunate enough to meet during this journey. ii I would like to thank Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson, and the Benkyookai team members at the University of New South Wales. They kindly welcomed me every time I joined them, and gave me not only valuable comments and feedback on my work but also wonderful heart- warming memories and lovely friendships, which I will fondly remember. I would especially like to express my appreciation to Sally Chan, who has shared my joys and sorrows during my candidature and also kindly proofread a part of the thesis. I am greatly honoured that I could meet wonderful colleagues and work together with them at the Postgraduate Arts Research Centre (PGARC). My sincere gratitude extends to Renita Johana Moniaga and Hasyimah Mohd Amin for being there and supported me at all times at John Woolley PGARC, and to Greg Murrie, who was always there and was my company when I was working till late there. I would also like to thank Naoyuki Kajimoto and Ang Li for being my company during the long nights at the Fisher PGARC. With their warm support and encouragement, I felt welcomed and at home at the PGARCs. I deeply appreciate my amazing editor David Lesslie, who has partially edited and proofread the entire thesis. I could not have finished this thesis without his wonderful, detail-oriented work and warm encouragement. My gratitude also goes to Dominic Jarkey, who kindly helped me with fixing the reference list with his splendid skills. I also beholden my fellows and senior colleagues: Kenji Fujita, Dr Nobutaka Nakazono, Tomohiko Iwashita for giving me valuable advice on statistics. I am grateful for the grant from the University of Sydney, Postgraduate Research Support Scheme (PRSS), which allowed me to be an authorised user of the corpus that was used as a source of data for this research. The PRSS also provided financial support that allowed me to give presentations at national and international conferences, providing me with further opportunities for valuable feedback on my work and inspiration for this thesis. My thesis was developed on the basis of symposium and conference presentations and collaborative research. Last, but never least, to my parents Masaki and Kazuko Komatsu, there are no words that could describe my appreciation. I am truly thankful for their endless support throughout my PhD journey. Their strong emphasis on the importance of education and their tremendous encouragement have led me here. Especially, without my mother’s deep interest in languages, which I have been exposed to for many years at home, I would not have even started this journey. Also, I really appreciate my little cheerleading kitten Yuri, who patiently waited alone at home till very late every night, and healed me at all times. iii Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iv Abbreviations vii List of Tables and Figures vii Chapter 1 Introduction……………………………………………………… 1 1.1. Background and Scope of the Study…………………………………………………………… 1 1.2. The Thesis of this Study……………...………......…………………………………………… 8 1.3. Structure of the Study………………………………………………………………………….