our standpoint there is no such language as 'reformed Egyptian'." Anthropologist Michael D. Coe of Yale University, an expert in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies, wrote, "Of all the peoples of the pre-Columbian New World, only the ancient Maya had a complete script." Fifteen examples of distinct writing systems have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription. Mormon studies of reformed Egyptian Mormon studies of reformed Egyptian are necessarily limited to whatever linguistic evidence can be obtained from the text of the Book of Mormon plus the extant seven-line "Caractors" document that may or may not be the symbols said to have been copied from the gold plates. Four Mormon non-linguist translators with varying levels of education have attempted to decipher the "Caractors" document. According to Brigham Young University Egyptologist John Gee, "the corpus is not large enough to render decipherment feasible." Terryl Givens has suggested that the characters are early examples of Egyptian symbols being used "to transliterate Hebrew words and vice versa," that Demotic is a "reformed Egyptian", and that the mixing of a Semitic language with modified Egyptian characters is demonstrated in inscriptions of ancient Syria and Palestine. Other Mormon apologists have suggested that the characters resemble those of shorthand for various languages including Hebrew, Demotic (Egyptian), Hieratic (Egyptian), Coptic (Egyptian), Mayan/Olmec, and Irish ogham ciphers. Hugh Nibley argued that a "revealed text in English" is preferable to trying to understand the original language. Mormon scholar David Bokovoy asserts that because the word "reformed" in the Book of Mormon text is not capitalized, it should not be seen as part of the title of the language, but an adjective describing the type of Egyptian that Nephi used. "According to this definition" Bokovoy argues, "archaeologists have uncovered important examples of reformed Egyptian, including hieratic and Demotic. In addition, he references a verse in which Moroni states that the initial writing had been changed over the years: And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech . ... But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof. See also Anthon Transcript forgery Egyptian