掸语

掸语有19个辅音。与泰语和老挝语不同，掸语没有[d]和[b]两个浊口腔塞音，古内爆浊音今读浊鼻塞音。

¹ 声门爆破音一般标记在未终止的短元音后，或者在一个元音前的无声“a”。

² 开头的[f]只见于某些方言词中，其他方言区一般发音为[pʰ]。

³ 颤音很少见，一般用于英语或巴利语外来词中。很多掸族人不会发[r]这个音，有时发[l]作为替代。

掸语有10个元音，13个双元音：

[iu], [eu], [ɛu]; [ui], [oi], [ɯi], [ɔi], [əi]; [ai], [aɯ], [au]; [aːi], [aːu]

和泰语相比，掸语的元音的比较简单。掸族人在学习泰语时很难发出ia、ua、uea（[ɯa]）等双元音。此外，掸语没有三元音，在长元音和短元音方面也没有泰语那样系统性的区别。

掸语的元音有抑止元音和自由元音的对立，两者的声调有所不同。根据方言差异，掸语有五个或六个声调。第六个声调只在北部方言出现。

下表是六个自由元音音节表示的声调，即以[m]、[n]、[ŋ]、[w]等响音结尾的闭音节，和以[j]结尾的开音节。

^* The symbol in the first column corresponds to conventions used for other tonal languages; the second is derived from the Shan orthography.

下表是具体音位的声调示例:

掸语声调与泰语声调对应，如下所示:

1. 掸语的升调接近泰语的升调。
2. The Shan low tone is equivalent to the Thai low tone.
3. The Shan mid-tone is different from the Thai mid-tone. It falls in the end.
4. The Shan high tone is close to the Thai high tone. But it is not rising.
5. The Shan falling tone is different from the Thai falling tone. It is short, creaky and ends with a glottal stop.

下表是四个抑止元音音节（入声）表示的声调，即以声门塞音[ʔ]及[p]、[t]、[k]三个阻碍音 结尾的闭音节。

The syllable structure of Shan is C(G)V((V)/(C)), which is to say the onset consists of a consonant optionally followed by a glide, and the rhyme consists of a monophthong alone, a monophthong with a consonant, or a diphthong alone. (Only in some dialects, a diphthong may also be followed by a consonant.) The glides are: -w-, -y- and -r-. There are seven possible final consonants: /ŋ/, /n/, /m/, /k/, /t/, /p/, and /ʔ/.

Some representative words are:

• CV /kɔ/ also
• CVC /kàːt/ market
• CGV /kwàː/ to go
• CGVC /kwaːŋ/ broad
• CVV /kǎi/ far
• CGVV /kwáːi/ water buffalo

Typical Shan words are monosyllabic. Multisyllabic words are mostly Pali loanwords, or Burmese words with the initial weak syllable /ə/.