Rates of Lexical Change in Egyptian and Semitic

Abstract

Rates of lexical change were studied for Egyptian and Semitic languages with a written historical form. Sampling is more adequate in that 200 words are used, rather than 100. More statistical sensitivity is used in the calculation of percentages of cognates. The statistic R (percentage of lexical retention per millenium) is calculated for 4 Semitic groupings (Ethiopic, South Arabian, West Aramaic and East Aramaic) and for Egyptian. For the Semitic family, R is calculated as equalling 62.7 %. For Egyptian, R equals 69.6 %. These differences are not statistically significant (t = 1.76), although the (insignificantly) higher figure for Egyptian may be related to greater linguistic isolation, and to the powerful and continuing written tradition.