 In 1955, Richard Frye questioned the classification of Imperial Aramaic as an "official language", noting that no surviving edict expressly and unambiguously accorded that status to any particular language.Frye reclassifies Imperial Aramaic as the of Achaemenid territories, suggesting then that the Achaemenid-era use of Aramaic was more pervasive than generally thought.Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised; its orthography was based more on historical roots than any spoken dialect, and the inevitable influence of Old Persian gave the language a new clarity and robust flexibility.