Nominal Classification in Asia and Oceania

The Khasian family is striking in exhibiting both grammatical gender and numeral classifier systems, as well as the additional feature of grammatical plural marking within numeral classifier phrases (Rabel 1961; Nagaraja 1985; Ring 2015). Located in the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya in an area well known as a contact zone for cultures and language groups (Chelliah & Lester 2016), this group of lects belongs to the Austroasiatic phylum, but remains separated from their closest relatives