Editing Egyptian language (section)

==Dialects==
Some evidence of dialectal variation in Egyptian is found in as early as the [[3rd millennium BC]], but because the hieroglyphic scripts inherent conservatism<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lambdin |first=Thomas Oden |title=Introduction to Sahidic Coptic |pages=viii-viii |language=en}}</ref> and that most hieroglyphic Egyptian texts are written in a literary [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige register]] rather than the [[vernacular]] [[Variety (linguistics)|speech variety]] of their author. As a result, dialectical differences are not apparent in written Egyptian until the adoption of the [[Coptic alphabet]].{{sfn|Allen|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|p=8}} Nevertheless, it is clear that these differences existed before the Coptic period. In one [[Papyrus Anastasi I|Late Egyptian letter]] (dated {{Circa|1200 BC}}), a scribe jokes that his colleague's writing is incoherent like "the speech of a [[Bohairic|Delta]] man with a man of [[Akhmimic|Elephantine]]."{{sfn|Allen|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|p=8}}

Recently, some evidence of internal dialects has been found in pairs of similar words in Egyptian that, based on similarities with later dialects of Coptic, may be derived from northern and southern dialects of Egyptian.{{sfn|Satzinger|2008|p=10}} Written Coptic has five major dialects, which differ mainly in graphic conventions, most notably the southern Saidic dialect, the main classical dialect, and the northern [[Bohairic Coptic|Bohairic dialect]], currently used in Coptic Church services.{{sfn|Allen|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|p=8}}