La distinción genérica en los posesivos del español

his chapter claims for the need of considering external factors in order to attain an explanation for the loss of gender distinctions in Old Spanish possessives: mio, to, so / mi(a), tu(e), su(e). Taking into account geographical varieties, as well as stylistic and textual influences, the chapter delimits the dialect areas where either gender distinctions or gender syncretism prevail in the history of Spanish, traces the chronological pace of the linguistic change and hints at social factors as the cause for the adoptation of fixed forms. In brief, the chapter concludes that the invariate possessives come from Eastern varieties and spread westwards because of the prestige assigned to them.