Editing Dialect (section)

=== Arabic ===
{{Main|Arabic}}
{{See also|Varieties of Arabic}}

There are three geographical zones in which Arabic is spoken (Jastrow 2002).<ref>{{Citation|title=50. Arabic Dialects (general article)|date=2011-12-21|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110251586.851|work=The Semitic Languages|pages=851–896|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|doi=10.1515/9783110251586.851|isbn=978-3-11-025158-6|access-date=2020-10-17|last1=Watson|first1=Janet C.E.}}</ref> Zone I is categorized as the area in which Arabic was spoken before the rise of Islam. It is the Arabian Peninsula, excluding the areas where southern Arabian was spoken. Zone II is categorized as the areas to which Arabic speaking peoples moved as a result of the conquests of Islam. Included in Zone II are the [[Levant]], [[Egypt]], [[North Africa]], [[Iraq]], and some parts of [[Iran]]. The Egyptian, Sudanese, and Levantine dialects (including the Syrian dialect) are well documented, and widely spoken and studied. Zone III comprises the areas in which Arabic is spoken outside of the continuous Arabic Language area.

Spoken dialects of the [[Arabic Language|Arabic language]] share the same writing system and share [[Modern Standard Arabic]] as their common prestige dialect used in writing.