Much of what we know about the Nephite language comes from descriptions related to their written language. For example, Nephi wrote, “I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians” (1 Nephi 1:2). “About a thousand years later Moroni explained that if the plates had been larger they would have written in Hebrew (a Hebrew which he admitted had undergone change), but instead the plates had been written in characters called ‘reformed Egyptian.’ Moroni explained that this reformed Egyptian had been ‘altered by us, according to our manner of speech’ (Morm. 9:32–33)” (Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 117).