Editing Egyptian language (section)

===Late Egyptian===
Late Egyptian was spoken for about 650 years, beginning around 1350 BC, during the [[New Kingdom of Egypt]]. Late Egyptian succeeded but did not fully supplant [[Middle Egyptian language|Middle Egyptian]] as a [[literary language]], and was also the language of the New Kingdom administration.{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|p=7}}<ref>Meyers, ''op. cit.'', p. 209.</ref>

Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt]] and later. Late Egyptian is represented by a large body of religious and secular [[Ancient Egyptian literature|literature]], comprising such examples as the ''[[Story of Wenamun]]'', the love poems of the Chester–Beatty I  papyrus, and the ''[[Instruction of Any]]''. [[Sebayt|Instructions]] became a popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, which took the form of advice on proper behavior. Late Egyptian was also the language of New Kingdom administration.<ref>Loprieno, ''op.cit.'', p.7</ref><ref>Meyers, ''op.cit.'', p. 209</ref>

Late Egyptian is not completely distinct from Middle Egyptian, as many "classicisms" appear in historical and literary documents of this phase.<ref>Haspelmath, ''op.cit.'', p.1743</ref> However, the difference between Middle and Late Egyptian is greater than the difference between Middle and Old Egyptian. Originally a [[synthetic language]], Egyptian by the Late Egyptian phase had become an [[analytic language]].<ref>Bard, ''op.cit.'', p.275</ref> The relationship between Middle Egyptian and Late Egyptian has been described as being similar to that between Latin and Italian.<ref>Christidēs et al. ''op.cit.'', p.811</ref> 
* Written Late Egyptian was seemingly a better representative than Middle Egyptian of the spoken language in the New Kingdom and beyond: weak consonants ''ꜣ, w, j'', as well as the feminine ending {{Transliteration|egy|.t}} were increasingly dropped, apparently because they stopped being pronounced.
* The demonstrative pronouns  {{Transliteration|egy|pꜣ}} (masc.), {{Transliteration|egy|tꜣ}} (fem.), and {{Transliteration|egy|nꜣ}} (pl.) were used as definite articles. 
* The old form {{Transliteration|egy|sḏm.n.f}} (he heard) of the verb was replaced by {{Transliteration|egy|sḏm-f}} which had both prospective (he shall hear) and perfective (he heard) aspects. The past tense was also formed using the auxiliary verb {{Transliteration|egy|jr}} (make), as in {{Transliteration|egy|jr.f saḥa.f}} (he has accused him).
* Adjectives as attributes of nouns are often replaced by nouns.

The Late Egyptian stage is taken to have ended around the 8th century BC, giving rise to Demotic.