Linguistics and the Book of Mormon

According to most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, the Book of Mormon is a 19th-century translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the American continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as "reformed Egyptian".[1][2] Mainstream modern linguistic evidence has failed to find any evidence of a language matching this description – or indeed, any evidence of Old World linguistic influences in the New World whatsoever.[3][4][5][6][7]

Some proponents of the Book of Mormon have published claims of stylistic forms that they think Joseph Smith and his contemporaries were unlikely to have known about, in particular things they think are similar to Egyptian and Hebrew.[clarification needed] However, the Book of Mormon includes language that is anachronistic and reflective of its 19th-century and English-language origins consistent with Smith's upbringing and life experience, as well as the books and other literature published just preceding the time that the Book of Mormon was published.[3]

  1. ^ Dallin H. Oaks, "The Historicity of the Book of Mormon" Archived 2013-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Book of Mormon/Historicity - FairMormon". en.fairmormon.org.
  3. ^ a b The Book of Mormon: Ancient or Modern.
  4. ^ Simon G. Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (2004, Signature Books).
  5. ^ Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism-Shadow or Reality? (1972, Modern Microfilm Company).
  6. ^ Statement of Smithsonian Institution regarding Book of Mormon.
  7. ^ A Linguist Looks at Mormonism.