This study demonstrates that – contrary to common belief – classifiers occur in Nuristani
languages even if their use is not obligatory. The detailed description of two numeral
classifiers ( grain and branch ) shows that Nuristani languages conform to the general
pattern of grammaticalizing nouns referring to plants or their parts as classifiers.
The Nuristani system of nominal number marking in the direct case appears to be in
harmony with the tendency that overt number marking on nouns is not obligatory in
languages that use numeral classifiers. The two cases examined here are both shape-based
sortal classifiers: the classifier grain occurs with items conceived of as small,
round objects, while branch is used with items or phenomena that involve the perceptual
schema of splitting, diverging. The lexical origin of these classifiers is transparent,
and the emergence of the classifier function appears to be an innovation native to
Nuristani.
