 During this period, a large number of loan words were included in the language from Northwest Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of these words was confined to the fringes of the Akkadian-speaking territory.Middle Assyrian served as a "lingua franca" in much of the Ancient Near East of the Late Bronze Age (Amarna Period).During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Assyrian began to turn into a chancellery language, being marginalized by Old Aramaic.