In classifier languages, countable nouns are not marked obligatorily for plurality even though these languages have a plural suffix, namely, –tachi in Japanese and –tul in Korean. There has been much debate as to whether the marked reading of these suffixes denotes “definite” or “specific” (Kurafuji 2003, Nakanishi & Tomioka 2004, Kim 2011). We maintain our previous claim (2018) that a marked reading for plural nouns denotes “Specificity,” defined as “known to both the speaker and the listener” in both languages (Ioni et. al., 2004). Our claim is based on the evidence that plural nouns which are unequivocally  “Specific” must be accompanied by the plural suffix (e.g. personal pronouns ‘they’ kare-tachi and ku-tul, and adnominal demonstratives ‘those kind of people’ anna- hito-tachi and kulen-salam-tul. On the other hand, nouns denoting the Generic/Kind-taking reading as in “Whales are a mammal/The whale is a mammal” cannot take the plural suffix in the two languages.

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              In this paper, we present further evidence for the “Specificity” requirement in the marked reading, and demonstrate a general correlation between grammaticalization of the plural suffix and the universal animacy hierarchy (human> animal> inanimate countable nouns > abstract nouns) in these languages. We observe relatively recent (starting in the 20th century) cases of frequent unmarked/nonspecific use of the plural suffixes in animate nouns in both languages, but for non-human animate nouns, Japanese –tachi is used much more restrictively for the unmarked reading, compared to Korean –tul.  In the case of inanimate nouns, Japanese –tachi encodes both “Specificity” and certain personal/emotional involvement on the speaker’s part. For instance, in the phrase, Ranju Tomu-san-no-guzzu-tachi  “merchandise for the top star Ranju Tom,” the speaker, as a devoted fan of the entertainer, Ranju Tom,  collects many types of merchandise related to this star, and feels emotionally connected to her collection.

               We conclude that the Japanese and Korean plural suffixes are used as a neutral grammatical marker if the noun in question is higher in the animacy hierarchy. The differences in plural marking in the two languages lie in the fact that, while the Korean plural suffix attaches to inanimate nouns across the board, Japanese inanimate nouns resist overt plural marking unless they satisfy the specificity requirements, noted above.  We speculate that Korean plural marking, compared to the Japanese counterpart has undergone the process of grammaticalization, despite its strong preference for “Specificity.”