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/.
注释
^Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (编). Shan. Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 2016.
參考文獻
The Major Languages of East and South-East Asia. Bernard Comrie (London, 1990).
A Guide to the World's Languages. Merritt Ruhlen (Stanford, 1991).