ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with two main points. Neither of them is structural in nature, because the differences of this variety in the two periods are less linguistic than functional and communicative. The first point is a functional comparison between the communicative load of pre-Classical Arabic and its Classical offspring insofar as it is a language of writing. The second point is a quick reference to the new non-poetic functions of the variety, functions of Classical Arabic and its mundane, daily-influenced nature on its formal shape as a response to the new communicative ecology of the Arab Islamic empire after the conquests. This chapter is an ecological sketch that is aimed to justify the standardization process of the pre-Classical variety. The two external ecological factors introduced here are not exclusive; they are, in fact, examples of the factors that might have worked towards the establishment of Arabic as a standard language. Future research may very well add more factors and/or add to our understanding of these existing ones. This chapter is in thematic unity with Chapter 13 and also with the chapters of Part 2 .
