Papers in Japanese Linguistics 1

Vol.2 si. Suirmer 1973

Ordinal Expressions in Japanese

Kooerc ii. cacicua
University of California, Santa Barbara

As far as 1 can tell, no attempt has ever been made toward achieving a
comprehensive description of Japanese ordinal expressions. Tet the diversi-
ty of ordinal forms and of situations in which one fora is appropriate to
the exclusion of others insures that anything less than a systematic integra-
tion leaves too many facts unrelated or unexplained. This diversity is seen
on the formal level in the existence of two ordinal affixes, dai- and -me.
and in the use of different classes of words to denote the members of ordinal
sequences. Underlying the interaction of these forms is a sense that differ-
entiates several types of sequences. But varied as the forms and their se-
mantic factors are, they can still be related to one another as aspects of a
coherent system; and that is what 1 have set out to do in this article.
Since ordinals are derived from cardinal number forms, we may expect
that the diversity of elements in the ordinal system springs from a similar
condition of the cardinal system. This is true; and consequently reference
to the basic features of the cardinal system (not merely to cardinal numbers
as isolated forms) is necessary to a description of ordinal expressions. In
an earlier article (Backus 1972) I detailed my conception of the cardinal
number system, A recapitulation of the main line of reasoning in that article
should provide an adequate basis for describing the ordinal system.
The major mode of counting in Japanese enumerates attributive units in
reference to things that are conceived of as independent and self-contained.
The form is a numeral compound in construction with a referent. "Hie numeral
compound consists of a number and a numeral adjunct. The adjunct specifies
the attributive unit while the number enumerates it; and the compound bears
toward its referent either a quantitative reference, as in gosatu no hon
'five books' (lit. 'five bound volumes C-satu] in reference to the entity
"book"'), or a constitutive reference, as in gosyoo no hon 'a book of five
chapters' (syoo 'chapter'). Numeral adjuncts are derived from two form
classess bound forms, which I call numeral suffixes, and free forms, which
I call count nouns. Count nouns denote attributive entities and appear in
number expressions usually in the adjunct position, where the things they de-
note are directly enumerated. They constitute a subclass of the noun; and
in contrast to them I designate other nouns loosely as class nouns, because
they always occupy the referent position in number expressions, and in a
quantitative reference with numeral compounds, the things they denote are
classified at the same time as they are quantified. Rie mode just described
I call the compound-referent mode. It is accompanied by a minor mode con-
sisting of a number modifying a class noun (e.g. gohei 'five soldiers',
gozyuu no hei 'fifty soldiers'), which I call the number-referent mode.
Like the cardinal number system, the system of ordinals can produce no
form which is universally applicable. Although the various forms share the
single function of indicating position in a sequence, each is restricted by
semantic conditions to a local range of usage, which does not, however, pre-
vent the ranges from overlapping and thereby bringing the forms into connota-
tive contrast with one another. On the formal level the system appears quite
complicated, and a description that proceeds from form to meaning moves lat-
erally and depends for consistency on constant referrings back and repeti-
tions of material for comparison. A description that starts from messing,
however, while not wholly free from these shortcomings, has the advantage c-'
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allowing progression from broader to narrower generalizations. It is there-

fore the semantic approach which I have chosen; and inspection of the facts
from that standpoint has led me to the following inference: that underlying
the behavior of Japanese ordinals is a basic division of two types of se-
quence—quantitative and constitutive—that reflect the quantitative and con-
stitutive references in compound-referent counting. A quantitative sequence
is like a line of people in front of a movie; it is open-ended and composed
of members that are independent of each other and happen for the moment to
have fallen into a series. A constitutive sequence, by contrast, belongs to
a system, and is therefore a closed sequence whose members are interlocked,
interdependent parts of the system. A synthesis of the ordinal forms and
their uses according to this conception comprehends all the facts insofar as
I am aware of them.

Quantitative Sequences
The form associated with quantitative sequences consists of a -me ordi-
nal modifying by means of the particle no a class noun or a noun that denotes
a container. Class nouns denote things that are considered to be independ-
ent and self-contained. Container words, on the other hand, I treat as count
nouns, for they denote containers either as measures or as objects; but in
the second sense they are to be grouped with class nouns as far as their be-
havior in ordinal expressions is concerned. These nouns indicate the content
of the sequence. A -me ordinal is a numeral compound (number + numeral ad-
junct) bearing the ordinal suffix -me. The adjunct specifies units that par-
ticularize the content of the sequence, and the number and ordinal suffix to-
gether designate the position of one of these units within the sequence.
Concerning the function of the numeral adjunct as a form that particularizes
the content of the sequence, this is seen most clearly when the adjunct is
denotatively essential to the utterance, as in gohakome no ringo 'the fifth
box of apples'. Here 'apple' (ringo) makes up the content of the sequence,
but it is only when the unit 'box' (hako) is referred to the content that the
members of the sequence—boxes of a p p l e s — a r e revealed. A literal transla-
tion of gohakome no ringo would run 'the fifth boxful in reference to the
entity "apple."' When the adjunct has only a connotative value, as in the
case of - n i n 'human being', the noun it refers to (its referent) will be spe-
cific enough to indicate both the content and members, and the adjunct be-
comes redundant. Goninme no gakusei 'the fifth student' is literally the
fifth human being in reference to the entity "student."'
Numeral adjuncts in quantitative sequences specify four kinds of units.
These are exemplified below, where the adjuncts represented as bound forms
are numeral suffixes and those represented as free forms are count nouns.

container units
gohaime no koohii 'the fifth cup of coffee' (-hai 'cup')
gobinme no kusuri 'the fifth bottle of medicine' (bin 'bottle')

partitive units
gohukume no kusuri 'the fifth dose of medicine' (-huku 'dose')
gokabume no kiku 'the fifth stock of chrysanthemums' (kabu 'stock')

collective units
gotuime no sensu 'the fifth pair of fans' (-tui 'pair')
gokumime no tebukuro 'the fifth pair of gloves' (kumi 'set')

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generic units
itutuae no hako 'the fifth box' (-tu: ^nondescript objects)
gohoSme no bin 'the fifth bottle' T-hon: long objects)
gosatume no ho5 'the fifth book' (-satu; bound volumes)
godaiae no kurana 'the fifth car' (-dai: vehicles)

Generic units refer things to categories, and the adjuncts that repre-
sent the« may therefore be called classifiers. Classifiers have an impor-
tant function in the cardinal number system, where their descriptive value
enhances the individuality of the referent. A large body of seldom used pro-
fessional or literary classifiers is available to furnish highly connotative
substitutes for a smaller number of classifiers whose meanings have become
attenuated through habitual use. Interplay between these two groups of clas-
sifiers lends a certain expressiveness to diction. In ordinals belonging to
quantitative sequences, however, the connotative resources of the less used
classifiers are not utilized, and the formation of -me ordinals is restrict-
ed to numeral compounds that contain the habitually used classifiers. All of
these turn out to be numeral suffixes; in addition to the ones already il-
lustrated are the following: -do for counting recurrences of a phenomenon,
-hiki for animals, -ban for traditional entertainments, -hatu for discharges
of weapons, -ken for houses, -mai for flat objects, and -BOO for watercraft.
Other classifiers are unlikely to be found in -me ordinals. Doubtless this
restriction on the occurrence of classifiers with -me has to do with the fact
that -me in some contexts is an informal counterpart of the ordinal prefix
dai-. Many of the less used classifiers have the same connotation of formal-
ity as dai-; quantitative sequences, being casual, are also informal, and
neither the ordinal prefix dai- nor the less used classifiers appear in them.
The presence of a classifier in a -me ordinal results in a form that
qualifies a member of a sequence at the same time as it designates its posi-
tion. But evidently this qualification, which enhances the individuality of
things in the process of counting them, is often felt to be inconsistent with
the idea of arrangement in ordinal expressions; for the classifier may be
replaced, and very often is replaced, by a suffix having the abstract meaning
of 'place in a sequence'. This suffix is -ban;1 and the -me ordinals built
on it represent a specialized development of the form, whereby the particular
meanings of the different classifiers that distinguish and restrict one -me
ordinal in relation to another are all subsumed in the abstract meaning of
-ban. To separate this specialized -me ordinal from the others, I use the
term '-banme ordinals'. In quantitative sequences a -banme ordinal may sub-
stitute for any -me ordinal built on a classifier, and in fact, -banme ordi-
nals are preferred. Thus goninme no gakusei becomes gobanme no gakusei 'the
fifth student', which is literally 'the fifth place in sequence in reference
to the entity "student."' Similarly, for the examples given under 'generic_
units' above, we get the corresponding forms gobanme no hako, gobanme no bin,
gobanme no hon, and so forth.^
Finally, it should be noted that ordinal forms are nouns, so that gonin-
me, gobanme, etc. are to be translated as 'the fifth one', just as a form
like gohakome is translated 'the fifth boxful'.

Constitutive Sequences
In constitutive sequences the ordinal affixes -me and dai- come into
contrast, giving two types of forms. The -me type is represented by the same
two ordinal forms that occur in quantitative sequences. In constitutive se-
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quences, however, the adjunct in the -me ordinal denotes a member of a sys-
tem , and the ordinal is a noun specifying a member of a system occupying a
given place in a sequence. The system, if stated, is indicated by a noun
that modifies the ordinal: kciyakuayo no gokoomokume 'the fifth item in the
contract'. The sequences exemplified below are closed sequences belonging to
systems; their members are denoted by either numeral suffixes or count nouns.

-haku 'beat'
gohakume 'the fifth beat' of a rhythmic system

zi 'written word', 'written symbol'

goziae 'the fifth word* in a sentence

-hari 'stitch' as a stroke of the needle

goharime 'the fifth stitch' in the process of sewing

dankai 'stage'
godankaime 'the fifth stage' of a process

kaikyuu 'rank'
gokaikyuume 'the fifth rank' of a hierarchy

gakka 'lesson'
gogakkame 'the fifth lesson' in a textbook

heya 'room'
goheyame 'the fifth room' in the corridor of a building

-gyoo 'line' of writing

gogyoome 'the fifth line' of a document

kumi 'group'
gokumime 'the fifth group' in an organization of people

A few adjuncts denote units that fit both quantitative and constitutive
sequences

hookoku no gogyoome no suuzi

(quant.5 'the fifth line of figures in the report'
(const.) 'the figures in the fifth line of the report'

kankoo ryokoo no gokumime no hitotati

(quant.5'the fifth group of people in the sightseeing tour'
(const.) 'the people in the fifth group of the sightseeing tour'

Constitutive sequences are also expressed by -banme ordinals modifying

nouns that denote members of systems. In quantitative sequences, as we have
seen, -banme ordinals are paired with -me ordinals formed on classifiers, with
the -me ordinal stressing individuality and the -banme ordinal stressing order.
That parallelism does not exist in constitutive sequences; whether a count
noun or a class noun, if the word denotes a member of a system, it cannot be
modified by a -me ordinal containing a classifier.3 This is no doubt because
the effect of the classifier is to present the entity as a separate thing

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belonging to a category, whereas the meabers of constitutive sequences are

felt to be interdependent. In the following examples the nouns are count
nouns.

gobanae no koonoku 'the fifth item' gobanae no kaikyuu 'the fifth rank'

gobanae no zl 'the fifth word' gobanae no gakka 'the fifth lesson'

gobanae no dankai 'the fifth stage' go^*n"e no heya 'the fifth rooa'

If the count noun denotes a unit of the kind that fits both quantitative
and constitutive sequences, -banae restricts its aeaning to constitutive.

gobanae no kurni no hitotati 'the people in the fifth group'

Many class nouns denote things that belong to larger wholes or things
that, when conceived in sequence, becoae interdependent. In such cases the
sequence is constitutive, and -ae ordinals formed on classifiers are inappro-
priate. As an exaaple of a thing that belongs to a larger whole, consider
the following:

koyubi no nibanae no kansetu 'the second joint of the little finger'

To illustrate how an essentially independent thing becoaes a constituent of

a constitutive sequence, nouns denoting offspring aake excellent examples. In
the following, Mr. Toshida's daughter belongs to a conceptual order; she is
not lined up with his other daughters before our eyes.

Yosidasan no sanbanae no ausuae 'Mr. Yoshida's third daughter'

Compare this case with the following, which is quantitative:

Yosidasantati ni (or sanbanae) no ausuae ga umareta.

'The Yoshidas have had a third daughter born to them.'

It is probably true to say that if the order is conceptual rather than

perceptual, if it is something we think up rather than look at, then the se-
quence will be constitutive. For aental conception iaplies completeness of
the concept; it will be treated as coaplete until new facts require aodifi-
cation. Therefore class nouns that denote conceptual entities will probably
not be found with -ae ordinals containing a classifier. In the following ex-
aaples it is the order that counts, not the individuality of the eleaents,
which are either conceptual or constituent.

gobanae PO siin 'the fifth scene' in a play

gobanae no kata 'the fifth type' in a classification

gobanae no ronbun 'the fifth article' in a collection

gobanae no kyoo 'the fifth sutra' in a collection

In constitutive sequences -me and -banae ordinals come into contrast with
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dai- ordinals. Dai- is a Chinese ordinal prefix, which, like most loanwords
from Classical Chinese, acquired an academic flavor through the use of Chin-
ese as the written language of Japanese scholars. The academic origin of
dai- has resulted in its possessing a distinctive connotation of formality
and deliberateness. Accordingly, a dai- ordinal designates formally position
in a sequence, implying a deliberateness of arrangement that precludes the
possibility of the sequence being fortuitous. That is why dai- ordinals occur
only in constitutive sequences. The ordinal suffix -me, on the other hand,
has no intrinsic connotation, which is why -me and -banme ordinals occur in
both types of sequence; but by contrast with dai-, -me acquires a connotation
of informality and casualness. Although this difference between the two or-
dinal affixes seldom comes through in English translation, it is striking
whenever it can be reflected, as in the case of syoo 'chapter', where daigo-
syoo is 'Chapter V' while gosyoome is 'the fifth chapter'.
Dai- ordinals are formed by prefixing dai- to the Chinese-derived numer-
als—but with one exception, that dai- is regularly prefixed to the native
numeral yon, yo- 'four', whose Chinese equivalent, si, is obsolescent. The
resultant form is a noun that designates position in a sequence: daigo 'the
fifth one'. Dai- ordinals combine with both numeral adjuncts and class nouns
in forms that under certain conditions exhibit assimilation at the juncture;^
and like the -banme ordinals, they may also be set off from nouns by the par-
ticle no. As to the occurrence of no, the particle is obligatory only when
two or more ordinals precede the noun or when the ordinal itself is modified
by a preceding word.

daisan daiyon no koomoku 'the third and fourth items'

Nihon daiiti no sizin 'the foremost poet in Japan'

Otherwise, it is less likely to be found if the noun is a Chinese loanword,

and even less likely if it is a monome (i.e. a Chinese loanword represented
by a single graph). Further, there are certain environments, which will be
pointed out presently, from which no is excluded. The occurrence of no after
dai- ordinals is conditioned by the fact that its presence contradicts the
formality of dai-; it constitutes an intrusion by a Japanese particle into a
Chinese noun string, which is avoided generally in sophisticated diction.
(Compare the preferred keizai seisaku 'economic policy' with the unsophisti-
cated keizai no seisakuT)
Dai- ordinals combine with numeral adjuncts that denote members of sys-
tems. But owing to the formal connotation of dai-, the range of usage for
these ordinals does not coincide with that of the -me ordinals. Dai- does
not occur with numeral suffixes that produce compounds of the mixed type—
suffixes, in other words, that admit the native numerals hito-, huta-, and
mi-. Semantically, these suffixes have a homeliness about them that renders
them incompatible with dai-. -Hari 'stitch', among the forms used earlier to
illustrate -me ordinals, is an example. On the other hand, count nouns that
produce numeral compounds of the mixed type do occur with dai- ordinals.
Still, the connotation of dai- cannot be ignored in the choice of forms. For
example, heya, the common word for 'room', might better be replaced by the
formal -situ (daigositu 'the fifth room'), though daigo (no) heya is not im-
possible.
Conversely, there are adjuncts so closely associated with literary dic-
tion that they seem to take dai- ordinals exclusively. They are all monomes

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and Include literary classifiers such as -hen 'written work' for counting
written works, -ayu 'head' for counting Japanese poena, ku 'verse' for haiku
and senryuu verses, and kyoku 'musical piece' for songs; in fact, any monomi-
al classifier except the commonly used ones mentioned in connection with -me
ordinals belongs to this group that take dai- ordinals only. In addition are
monomial count nouns that denote units in formally established systems of
classification and organization, such as bu 'division', rui 'class', kyoku
'bureau', bu 'department', and ku 'district'. Moreover, these count nouns,
including the ones listed above as classifiers, are apparently never set apart
from the ordinal by the particle no.
The following examples of numeral adjuncts with dai- ordinals correspond
in part to the list given earlier for -me ordinals. Although two of these ad-
juncts, -gyoo 'line' and kumi 'group', appear also in quantitative sequences,
the presence of dai- restricts them here to a constitutive sequence.

daigohaku 'the fifth beat' of a rhythmic system

daigoxi, daigo no si 'the fifth word' in a sentence

daigo (no) dankai 'the fifth stage' of a process

daigo (no) kaikyuu 'the fifth rank' of a hierarchy

daigo (no) gakka 'the fifth lesson' in a textbook

daigogyoo 'the fifth line' of a document

daigo (no) kumi 'the fifth group' in an organization of people

daigohen 'the fifth work' in a collection

daigorui 'the fifth class' in a classification

Dai- ordinals occur with class nouns whose meanings are appropriate to a
constitutive sequence, and serve in this environment as formal counterparts of
-banme ordinals.

koyubi no daini (no) kansetu second joint of the little finger'

Yosidasan no dais^ia (no) musume 'the third daughter of Mr. Yoshida'

daigo (no) <»iin 'the fifth scene' in a play

daigo (no) kata 'the fifth type' in a classification

daigo (no) ronbun 'the fifth article' in a collection

daigokycc. daigo no kyoo 'the fifth sutra' in a collection

But for this case, in addition to class nouns it is necessary to recog-

nize a category of quasi nouns. These »are bound monomes imperfectly natural-
ized from Chinese but possessing the full substantive value of nouns. Such
bound forms may be simply the on reading of a logo graph, like -zi, which cor-

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 fj

responds to the native word tera 'Buddhist monastery', 'temple'; or they may
be the substantive morpheme abstracted from a binome or trinome, such as -sen
'line' from boogyoosen 'defense line'. In the academic style of writing, dai-
ordinals form compounds with quasi nouns in a constitutive sequence.

dainizi 'the second monastery' daiissen 'the first line of defense'

Finally, mention should be made of em unusual ordinal compound that be-

longs to the dai- type. It consists of a dai- ordinal, a numeral suffix, and
-me. Such compounds have the same usage as that described above for the dai-
ordinals. The suffix -me, therefore, is redundant. The presence of both or-
dinal affixes together results in a longer form that rings with a deeper tone
of formality and emphasis suited only to a few contexts. For this reason the
compounds occur infrequently.

migi no tanka no daiissyume 'the first of the foregoing poems'

daininitime no kaigoo 'the meeting on the second day'

daisanbanme no dankai 'the third stage'

As we have seen, a constitutive sequence may be composed of dai-, -me,

and -banme ordinals, and the formal connotation of dai- results in a contrast
of formality with informality. But dai- also connotes deliberateness, which
means that the members of a dai- sequence are fixed relative to its beginning.
This condition is reflected in the fact that dai- ordinals can never be used
in a sequence where a base point is stated; for the statement of a base
point, even if it is the beginning, indicates a sequence that has grown from
a p o i n t — a dependent sequence—instead of one that is absolute and complete
in itself. Dai- ordinals are confined to absolute sequences, while -me and
-banme ordinals occur in both kinds. For this reason -me and -banme may be
said to connote casualness in contrast to the deliberateness of dai-. In
the following examples of dependent sequences, then, there are no formal
counterparts to the ordinals that appear.

ue kara gogyoome 'the fifth line from the top'

hazime kara ffozime word froffl beginning .

hazime kara gobaBme no zi

sita kara fiokoomokume from ^

sita kara gobanme no koomoku

migi kara fiohegame room frQm

migi kara gobanme no heya

owari kara go banme no ronbun 'the fifth article from the end'

It goes without saying that sequences with a stated base point may also be
quantitative, in which case -me ordinals formed on classifiers appear in them:
hidari kara goninme (or gobaflae) no gakusei 'the fifth student from the left'.

Special Constitutive Sequences

The sequences discussed under this heading conform to the character of
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constitutive sequences while at the sane time exhibiting peculiarities that

make it awkward to fit them into a general description.

Sequences of Standard Measures

Standard measures are nouns when they denote the type of measure: kiro-
meetoru de arawasu 'to express it in kilometers'. They are bound forms when
they denote a particular unit of the type: kyooaoo no kono itikiromeetoru
'this (one) kilometer of the race'. In ordinal expressions they give rise
only to one form, -me ordinals.

kyoosoo no gokiromeetorume 'the fifth kilometer of the race'

Time Sequences
Time units are represented by bound forms, class nouns, and count nouns
as follows:

bound forms class nouns count nouns

-niti, -ka, -kka 'day' hi 'day' sikan 'hour'
-yoobi 'day of the week' hug 'minute'
-kagetu 'month' tuki 'month' byoo 'second'
-getu 'month' syuu 'week'
-neH 'year' tosi 'year' seiki 'century'

Unlike constitutive sciences in general, where -dai is restricted to

absolute sequences while -me and -banme are not, in the case of time units
dai- and -banme occur only in absolute sequences and -me occurs only in de-
pendent sequences. Thus time sequences are charaoterized by a neat separation
of forms in which dai- and -banme make formal-informal counterparts in abso-
lute sequences, and -me stands apart from them as the only form appropriate
to a dependent sequence.
Inspection of the forms representing time units shows a perfect corre-
spondence between the bound forms and class nouns for representing 'day',
•month', and 'year'.5 The class nouns take -banme ordinals, and the bound
forms (except -kagetu) take dai- ordinals. The count nouns, of course, take
both dai- and -banme ordinals; and this is one of the environments in which
dai- ordinals are never set off by the particle no. It might be noted paren-
thetically that syuu 'week' has an alternate form, syuukan, also a count noun,
but syuukan takes no part in ordinal expressions. -Me ordinals are formed on
the count nouns and on those bound forms which are numeral suffixes, namely
-niti, -ka, -kka; -kagetu; and -nen.
Absolute time sequences belong to a process or else to a formal segment
of the flow of time.

kaigi no t ^ e fourth day of the conference*

° yonbanme no hi

da
zikken no ^g°nen . 'the fifth year of the experiment'
gobanme no tosi

siken no f****- z i k £ £ - 'the first hour of the examination'

itibanme no zikan

ryokoo no d a ^ a y u u . second week of the trip'

—" nibanme no syuu t h e
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tosi no **irolaiSetu # »the sixth month of the year'
rokubanme no tuki *

daisanyoobi
syuu no daisanniti 'the third day of the week*
aanbanme no hi

tuki no f ^ ^ f ^ 0 " 'the first week of the month'

itibafime no syuu

hooken zidai no ^j"11- «the second century of the feudal age'

nibanme no seiki

Dependent time sequences start from a point in time.

kaigi no ato yokkame ni 'on the fourth day after the conference'

zikken no hazime kara gonenme 'the fifth year after the beginning of the ex-
periment •

ryokoo ni dekakete kara nisyuume 'the second week after starting on the trip'

tosi no hazime kara rokkagetume 'the sixth month from the beginning of the

year'

syuu no hazime kara mikkame 'the third day from the beginning of the week'

tuki no hazime kara isayuume 'the first week from the beginning of the month'

hooken jidai ga owatte kara niseikime 'the

age second
ended' century after the feudal
The time units just discussed are seen to be formal units when compared
with the natural units asa 'morning', yuugata 'evening', yoru 'night', and
ban 'evening' or 'night'. It may be argued that 'day' is also a natural unit
which in one sense it is. But the Japanese equivalents given earlier denote
calendar days of twenty-four hours; 'daytime', by contrast, is hiru or hiru-
ma. The natural time units, then, turn out to be parts of the calendar day.
Except for ban, which is a count noun, they are represented by class nouns of
the type that do not enter into construction with numbers or numeral com-
pounds. In cardinal number expressions the units represented by class nouns
can be counted only indirectly by mediation of a numeral compound built on
the adjunct that denotes days. For example, 'It took them five mornings to
finish the job* is rendered Asa hataraite sigoto o owaru no ni ituka kakatta
'Working mornings, they took five days to finish the job'. Ban, of course,
can occupy the adjunct position: goban kakatta 'took them five nights'.
When natural time units appear in an absolute sequence, they may be modi
fied by three kinds of ordinals:

daininiti no ban
kaigi no hutukame no bain 'the second evening of the conference'
nibagme no ball

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The presence of hutukaae 'the second day' constitutes a deviation from the
rule for fortaal tiae units that -me ordinals are confined to dependent se-
quences. But the ordinal here has a different function; it does not refer
priaarily to dags but instead is mediating to put evenings into sequence,
much like a -banae ordinal: 'the second-day evening' or 'the evening of the
second day'. On the other hand, hutabanae 'the second evening', as an ordinal
built directly on ban, follows the rule for tiae units generally and occurs
only in dependent sequences* It should be noted, moreover, that the meaning
of hutukaae no ban differs slightly from that of nibanae no ban. In both
kaigi no hutukaae no ban and kaigi no daininiti no ban it is the evening of
the second day of the conference, whereas in kaigi no nibanae no ban it is
the second evening of the conference. A party for the conferees that took
place on the foraer would be one party held on the second day, while kaigi no
nibanae no ban no paatii implies the second of two parties.
In dependent sequences natural tiae units are ordered by -me ordinals
only. In the case of ban the ordinal may be formed directly on the count noun

kare ga dekakete kara hutabanae 'the second evening after he left'

or on the numeral suffix -niti, -ka, -kka.

kare ga dekakete kara hutukame no ban 'the evening of the second day after he

left*

The other natural units sire ordered according to the second form.

kare ga dekakete kara hutukaae no asa 'the second morning after he left'
Appellative Sequences
In an appellative sequence the ordinal serves as a formal designation of
some thing or place, functioning as a distinctive name based on position in a
sequence rather than as an indicator of position p«r se. The form is a dai-
ordinal preceding a noun without no. The absence of no in this case is but
an instance of a general rule that call« for its omission in proper names.
Compare Tookyoo Daigaku 'Tokyo University' with Tookyoo no daigaku 'a univer-
sity in Tokyo'.

daisan sekai 'the thi*~- world' daiyonzyuu roku kokkai 'the *f6th Diet'

daisiti 'the seventh fleet' daiiti kaihei kookuu sidan

'the 1st aarine airborne division'

quasi-Appellative Sequences
These are so called because the group includes not only clearly appella-
tive sequences but others that may be interpreted as such and still others
that probably cannot be considered appellative. The distinction, however, is
not so important as the fact that all of them are absolute sequences. More-
over, they share the same form; and it is difficult to imagine how the ap-
parently nonappellative sequences could have been established without the ap-
pellative ones in mind.
Divisions of an organization may be designated formally by dai- ordinals,
as daiiti kumi 'the first group' or dainibu 'the second department'. Once
these names are recognized, they Bay be abbreviated by dropping the dai- :

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 12
iti kumi 'group one', nibu 'department two'. In most instances the abbrevi-
ated designations become identical with cardinal number forms (nibu 'two de-
partments'), so that their occurrence depends on a determinative context.
Except for a very few cases, they are to be taken as informal variants of the
dai- forms.
As far as I know, there is only one case where a quasi-appellative ordi-
nal occurs with a class noun. This is in the designation of military units,
where, for example, dainizyuu rentai 'the 20th regiment' may be abbreviated
to nizyuu rentai. Otherwise, the ordinals occur with numeral adjuncts. There
is a fairly large body of numeral adjuncts that denote units which are regu-
larly conceived of as belonging to absolute sequences, and these are found
with quasi-appellative ordinals so often that they may be said to produce nu-
meral compounds that combine the cardinal and ordinal meanings. Thus gosyoo,
for example, is equally 'five chapters' or 'chapter five' depending on its
context. In addition to these, there is a smaller body of adjuncts that pro-
duce numeral compounds which are primarily or exclusively ordinal, such as
gokyuu 'grade five'. Most of the adjuncts that behave in this way are pre-
sented below, together with some observations on their relation to other kinds
of ordinal sequences. Concerning the count nouns among them, it may be stated
at the outset that they do not occur with -banme ordinals, nor are they se-
parated from dai- ordinals by no.
Units of written material are represented by a set of count nouns that
occur in absolute sequences formally with dai- prefixed and informally with
dai- omitted. They seldom produce -me ordinals, though -me is required if
the sequence happens to be a dependent one (owari kara gosyoome 'the fifth
chapter from the end'). Numeral compounds formed on these count nouns serve
as informal designations provided the context is such as to establish the or-
dinal meaning: syoosetu no nibu 'part two of the novel'.

Plays Books Contracts Budgets

maku 'act' bu, hen 'part' syoo 'chapter' bu 'part'
ba 'scene' syoo 'chapter* zyoo 'article' kan 'article'
setu 'section' koo 'clause' koo 'clause'
Periodicals ka * lesson' setu 'paragraph' moku 'item'
kan 'volume' setu 'subitem'
goo 'number'

The following adjuncts appear only in absolute sequences^ i.e. -me is

never suffixed to them: han 'edition', satu 'impression', sintoo 'degree of
consanguinity', -nan 'son', and -zyo 'daughter'. Nihan is 'the second edi-
tion' or 'two editions'. It is characteristic of these adjuncts (except for
sintoo) that the first position in the sequence is designated by a nonnumer-
ical form. The first edition is called syohan 'initial edition', and the
first impression syosatu 'initial impression'. -Nan and -zyo denote off-
spring in a genealogy. The first two sons are called tyoonan 'eldest' and
zinan 'next eldest', while the third son is sannan, which also means 'three
sons'. -Zyo is treated in the same way. Dai- may be prefixed only to the
numerical forms.
Three adjuncts—kai 'storey' or 'floor', peezi 'page', and -tyoo 'leaf'—
make up informal series. Dai- probably never occurs with kai, only rarely
with the other two. -He is used for dependent sequences: ue kara yonkaime
'the fourth floor from the top'. -Tyoo denotes a page in a Japanese-style
book, in which the obverse and reverse together constitute one leaf. Peezi
is unusual in that it denotes a detachable part. Gopeezl is 'five pages' or
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 13

'page fire' in a book (note also owari kara gopeezime 'the fifth page from the
end'); but if the pages are torn out, the fifth one is goaaime (or gobanme)
no peezi, a member of a quantitative sequence.
The following time units compose quasi-appellative sequences in chrono-
logies: -niti, -ka, -kka 'day', -nen 'year', nendo 'fiscal year', and seiki
•century'. Hutuka is the second day of the month as well as 'two days'; but
the first day is rendered by a nonnumerical form, tuitati 'commencement of
the moon'. Ninen is the second year of a chronology—A.D. or B.C., or else
of a calendrical era as in Syoowa ninen 'the second year of Showa'; it is
also 'two years'. The first year moving forward from the base point of a
chronology is called gannen 'base year'; but moving backwards, it is itinen
as in kigenzen itinen '1 B.C.'. -Nen also denotes units of a student's formal
education: daigaku no itinen 'the first year of college'. Nendo (lit. 'year-
measure') denotes a twelve-month period starting from other than January. If
the first fiscal year refers to the first year of activity of an institution,
it is called syonendo 'initial year-measure'; if it refers to the first year
of_a calendrical era, it is called gannendo 'base year-measure', as in Syoowa
gannendo 'fiscal 1926'. Ninendo is 'the second fiscal year' or 'two fiscal
years'. Isseiki is 'one century' or 'the first century' as a unit in the
Western chronology. Dai- and -me do not occur with these adjuncts when the
units pertain to chronologies.
Related to the foregoing are gakki 'school term' and gakunen 'school
year'. These denote formal units of the educational structure, and as such,
may occur with dai-; but -me is probably never used with them. However,
gakunen also denotes a year in a student's educational chronology (like -nen
above), and in this meaning takes neither ordinal affix: sangakunen made de
daigaku o yameru 'to quit the university after getting as far as the third
year'. Itigakki is 'the first term* or 'one term', itigakunen 'the first
school year' or 'one school year'.
There are three adjuncts that denote place in a succession (-kai 're-
currence', -zi 'order', and dai 'stage'), each of which behaves in a way pe-
culiar to itself. -K»i occurs in compounds that enumerate recurrences of a
phenomenon, as in sankai no kaigi 'three conferences', implying that they are
three recurrences of the same event, either with the same conferees or on the
same subject. (Cf. mittu no kaigi, three totally unrelated conferences.)
The third conference is saflkaime no kaigi or daisankai no kaigi. The second
ordinal becomes appellative by dropping the no (daisaflkai kaigi), and this
may be abbreviated to sankai kaigi 'the third conference'. -Kai is also used
to designate divisions of certain sports contests: (dai-) saSkai no ura 'the
second half of the third inning'. Note also syokai 'initial recurrence':
syokai no taimen 'the first interview'.
-Zi denotes order in a temporal succession and in a consequential suc-
cession. When it refers to a temporal succession, it functions as a formal
synonym of -kai: sanzi no kasai 'three successive conflagrations', daisaSzi
no kasai 'the third conflagration'. The compounds do not occur with -me.
The dai- ordinals become appellative by dropping no: dainizi Konoe naikaku
'the second Konoe Cabinet', daiitizi sekai taisen 'the First World War'. But
in temporal successions these appellative forms are not abbreviated. However,
when the adjunct refers to a consequential succession, the compounds never
enumerate and are to be taken as abbreviations of dai- ordinals: (dai-) nizi
kyooiku 'secondary education', (dai-) sanzi seisan 'tertiary production'.
Dai denotes a stage in a temporal succession of human beings. The com-
pounds frequently take -me, rarely dai-. The first stage is syodai 'initial
stage'. The compounds quantify human beings by stages in natural descent as
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 lit

well as in any artificial succession: nidai no soozokunin 'two generations

of heirs', godai no sooridaizin 'five successive premiers'. The compounds
acquire an ordinal meaning in the following environments:
1) When they precede a noun that denotes status: sandai no Amerikazin
•a third-generation American'. But since the form is ambiguous in that it can
also mean 'three generations of Americans', it is confined to contexts that
allow only an ordinal interpretation: Kare wa sandai no Amerikazin da 'He is
a third-generation American'. Unambiguously ordinal forms are sandaime no
Amerikazin and Amerikazin no sandaime.
2) When they precede a noun whose meaning has been restricted by a modi-
fying clause: koko ni nyuusyoku sita nidai no hitobito 'the second genera-
tion of people who settled here'. Such restricted nouns can be regarded as
denoting status. But in this environment the compound is not ambiguous,
though it may be replaced by nidaime no hitobito or hitobito no nidaiae.
•Two generations of people who settled here' is koko ni nyuusyoku sita hito-
bito nidai, for the compounds in the postnominal position are always quanti-
tative; or else one can substitute the count noun sedai 'generation': koko
ni nyuusyoku sita nisedai no hitobito.
3) When they precede a noun that denotes an office: godai sooridaizin
'the fifth premier'. This form may be considered quasi-appellative, for the
omission of no is obligatory and dai- (though it happens rarely) may be pre-
fixed to the compound. The preceding two usages are probably extensions of
this one.
Similar to this third case in that no is omitted is the use of -me ordi-
nals to designate position in a succession of artists bearing a hereditary
name: sandaime Kikugoroo 'the third Kikugoro'. But in this environment the
ordinal suffix is necessary.
There are four adjuncts that denote positions in sequences used for stat-
ing rank: -ban 'number' or 'place', - i 'rank', -kyuu 'grade', and -dan
'grade'. Numeral compounds formed on these adjuncts are primarily ordinal,
but they also enumerate positions when they modify direction words express-
ing movement up and down the hierarchy. Dai- occurs frequently with but
seldom with the others. The compounds do not take -me.
The adjunct -ban has two functions: designating and ranking. In the
first function the compounds designate certain items by number such as tele-
phone and license numbers, theater seats, streetcars, and trains. This is
an appellative function, and no is often omitted: hatiban hoomu 'no. 8 sta-
tion platform'. In the second function the compounds indicate clothing
sizes (sitiban no kutu 'size seven shoes') and placement scores (niban de
kyuudai suru 'to pass in second place'). In this second function the com-
pounds may enumerate: niban ue no boosi 'a hat two sizes larger', zyuuban
agaru 'to go up ten places'.
Compounds formed on -i are used to rank things in general: (dai-) itii
no haiyuu 'an actor of the first rank', nii agaru 'to go up two places'. The
adjunct also denotes ranks in the old court aristocracy. In this meaning the
obsolete pronunciations are preserved in sanmi 'third rank' and sii 'fourth
rank', and dai- does not occur with the compounds. Further, the compounds
are exclusively ordinal; movement up and down the court ranks is expressed
by compounds formed on -kyuu.
-Kyuu denotes grades in a scale for evaluating the quality of merchan-
dise and the competence of public servants. In this usage the compounds al-
most always combine with monomial bound forms: ikkyuuhin 'first-grade goods',

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 15

nikyuukan 'an official of the second grade'. -Kyuu also denotes school grades
(gakkyuuT, but here the compounds are restricted to the adverbial position,
where they always enumerate: nikyuu aita da 'to be two grades lower'. Final-
ly, -kyuu denotes grades of accomplishment in the traditional arts. The -kyuu
grades belong to the junior section and make a pair with the -dan grades of
the senior section. Syokyuu is the highest junior grade, nikyuu the second
highest, and so on. The next grade above syokyuu is syodan, which is the low-
est grade in the senior section; thence nidan, etc. Examples: zyuudoo de
sankyuu da 'to be at the junior third grade in judo', nikyuu agaru 'to go up
two grades'; nidan no kikaku 'a chess player of the senior second grade',
itidan ue da *to be one grade higher'.
The remaining adjuncts produce compounds that are purely ordinal. They
do not occur with -me. Two of them, -too 'class' and -ryuu 'rate', express
evaluation. Infrequently dai- is prefixed to the compounds formed on these
two. -Too is used to evaluate a wide variety of things, and the compounds
combine with bound monomes or precede free forms without the particle no:
ittoohin 'first-class goods', nitoosyoo 'second prize', santoo untin 'third-
class fare', kyoosoo de ittoo ni naru 'to take first place in a race*. Coo-
pounds formed on -ryuu express a subjective or impressionistic evaluation
that seldom goes lower than sanryuu 'third-rate': itirymi (no) daigaku 'a
first-rate university*.
Compounds formed on -goo 'number' combine with bound monomes or precede
free forms usually without no to form appellative sequences: zyuugoo (no)
heya 'room no. ten', nizyuugoositu 'room no. twenty', itigoosya 'car no. one'
(of a train). -Ban in this sense has a wider application than -goo. Further,
if members of a sequence are themselves composed of consecutive members, -ban
numbers the principal members and -goo the subordinate members. For example,
trains are numbered by -ban and the cars making them up by -goo.
-Sei denotes a generation in natural descent and also in a succession of
occupants of an office or position which they hold for life. The compounds
are used most frequently to designate ®> member of a dynasty outside the Chin-
ese culture area who bears the same name as a predecessor or successor. In
this usage they folio* the name, reflecting Western word order: Waporeon
issei 'Napoleon I'» Zyon D. Rokkuferaa sansei 'John D. Rockefeller III'. Over-
lapping -dJil compounds, compounds formed on -sei precede artists' hereditary
names *nd the names of offices held for life: zyuu gosei Itimura Pzaemon
'the fifteenth Ichimura Uzaemon', (dai-) zyuu hassei TeHdai Zasu 'the eight-
eenth Tendai Abbot'. They are also used in statements of nationality: Ame-
rikazin no sansei 'a third-generation American'.
Compounds formed on -tyaku 'arrival' designate the order in which con-
testants finish a race: (dai-) ittyaku no soosya 'the first runner in'.
The remaining adjuncts produce numeral compounds that never occur with
the ordinal affixes: -men 'page' for designating pages of a newspaper (iti-
men 'the first page'); -gatu 'month' for designating the months of the year
Titigatu • the first month' s January); and -zi 'hour' for designating the
hours of the day (itizi 'one o'clock').

Reference to the history of Japanese ordinals would no doubt better

elucidate some aspects of the ordinal system. But ordinal expressions are
hard to come by from merely scanning a text, and accumulation of facts would
have to proceed gradually as an avocation. Yet from the modern data, and
from knowledge of the history of the cardinal number system, one can put to-
gether something of a perspective into the past which permits a reasoned
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 16

guess as to how the major components of the ordinal system were assembled.
From the beginning the Japanese have quantified things by counting other
things in an attributive relation to them. The native ordinal affix is -me,
and this must have been suffixed to the form modified by the number, i.e.
the form denoting the attributive entity, as it is today. The result is a
quantitative sequence. The concept of attributive entities would seem to
lead naturally to recognition of a class of things that characteristically
appear as constituents. However that may be, recognition of constituent
things developed under Chinese influence as the intellectual level of culture
expanded with an inflow of continental literature and scholarship. This
historical fact is reflected in the Chinese provenance of most of the words
that denote constituent things. With these loanwords came the ordinal prefix
dai-. There seems to be no compelling reason why dai- should have been re-
stricted to absolute sequences, since it is not so restricted in Chinese; but
absolute sequences are typical of scholarship, and dai- has always been an
academic form in the Japanese lexicon. In any case, the existence of a re-
stricted dai- sequence makes it easier to understand the ordinal system by
distinguishing a category of constitutive sequences in which dai- contrasts
with -me. Constitutive sequences are made up of constituent things. Although
this type of sequence is imperfectly distinguished inasmuch as -me occurs in
it, it is reasonable to suppose that the «Japanese are intuitively aware of it
as something different from a quantitative sequence. For one thing, in car-
dinal number expressions they treat constituent things differently from self-
contained things by counting them with the noun in the adjunct position, show-
ing that they are attributive. And in ordinal expressions, too, they modify
nouns denoting constituent things with -banme ordinals (-ban also comes from
Chinese), which suppresses any sense of their particularity; -me ordinals
formed on classifiers, which particularize their referents, are confined to
quantitative sequences.
Once these three types of sequence—quantitative, constitutive, and ab-
solute—are perceived under the complex interplay of -me, -banme, and dai-,
the categories of dependent and appellative sequences readily take shape to
explain the remaining mysteries of ordinal behavior. Further development of
the system consists only in adding vocabulary in the form of numeral adjuncts.
Most of this vocabulary is Chinese. It appears in various stages of natural-
ization, some forms being wholly bound, others partially bound, and others
free; and it gives rise to fine distinctions of meaning as well as duplica-
tion of function, which often seem unnecessary to the practical working of an
ordinal system. This formal diversity is due to a merging of two languages
throughout all aspects of the expression of number, including even the numer-
als; and while it might cause us to ponder anew the Japanese patience with
redundancy, so often manifested in a proneness to borrow without discarding,
we would do well to assume, as the case of ordinal expressions demonstrates,
that each instance is somewhere governed by a set of related and unifying
concepts.

Notes

^-Ban appears in a small group of adjuncts that form numeral compounds

having an ordinal meaning without the addition of the ordinal affixes. These
compounds, which will be treated later as special cases of a constitutive se-
quence, are used either for ranking or for designating items by position.
-Ban produces compounds of the designating type as in goban densya 'no. 5
tram', which is literally 'place five tram'. The use of -ban to create a com-
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 I?

prehensive -me ordinal probably aterns fron this meaning. There is also a use
of -ban as a classifier for counting performances of traditional entertainments
such as games of chess, bouts of judo or wrestling, and performances of plays
and dances. In this usage it acquires the meaning of 'a turn at performing',
which I consider to be separate from its meaning in ordinal expressions.

^However, in the series for counting nondescript objects, -banme ordinals

have no counterparts from 'the tenth one' on, because the classifier -tu, -ttu
goes only as far as 'nine'. Thus the ordinals run in pairs up to 'the ninth
one^, which is kokonotume or kyuubanme, and thereafter are represented by
-banme forms: zyuubanme, zyuu itibanme, etc.

^For example, itutume no heya for 'the fifth room' was characterized by
one native speaker as childish.
k
Assimilation in numerical forms is a matter tangential to my concern
in writing this article and the one preceding it (Backus 1972); but its es-
sential features are described in notes 10 and 16 of the latter. With numer-
al suffixes and monomial nouns (a monome being a Chinese loanword represented
by a single graph), assimilation for dai- ordinals takes place following the
patterns described in those notes. With other kinds of nouns (binomes, native
words, and Western loanwords) there is no assimilation. The absence of assi-
milation in the second case constitutes a deviation from the pattern for car-
dinal number forms in that assimilated number-noun forms become unassimilated
when dai- is added. For example, the number-class noun rokkatei 'six house-
holds' becomes dairoku katei, and the number-count noun issyurui 'one kind'
becomes daiiti syurui.
5
The term 'class noun' cannot be applied to time units unless its defi-
nition is broadened to include nouns that are never placed in construction
with numbers or numeral compounds. Hi, tuki, and tost are three such nouns;
there must be many more. Actually the point of differentiating the nouns is
to isolate the count nouns from all the rest, and the important feature of a
count noun is that it occupies the adjunct position without undergoing a
change in its meaning. That some count nouns aire occasionally found as re-
ferents of numeral compounds while others never appear in that position is a
difference that for the time being I consider to be secondary, and I have not
taken the trouble to test the count nouns for their behavior in this respect.
Still, certain groups of count nouns are readily distinguished as incapable
of occupying the referent position, one of which is the group of nouns that
denote standard measures. To these must now be added the time units repre-
sented by count nouns; they appear in cardinal number expressions only as ad-
juncts within numeral compounds.

References

Backus, Robert L. 1972. Two Modes of Counting in Japanese. Papers in Japan-

ese Linguistics. 1.2: 17U-19U.

Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages

University of California
Santa Barbara, California 93106
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