What's mine is yours: Stable variation and language change in Ancient Egyptian possessive constructions

What is it about?

Ancient Egyptian has four ways of producing possessive constructions. Two are in stable variation with each other -- neither variant replaces the other over time -- while the other two are an instance of language change -- one variant replaces the other over time. This paper looks at the independent variables constraining the variation in the stable possessive variable, and compares them to the factors constraining variation in the change variable.

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Why is it important?

We know very little about stable variation and why two variants of the same variable are able to exist over time without one replacing the other. This paper investigates the oldest documented case of stable variation and compares it to a language change variable in the same language and time periods. This comparison helps to further our understanding of what makes language change, or not change, over time.