Tai-Kadai · ISO 639-3 shn
Shan Language ၵႂၢမ်းတႆးယႂ်
Shan is a Tai-Kadai language spoken by about 3.6 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Myanmar script.
Where Shan is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Language family
- Tai-Kadai
- Kam-Tai
- Daic-Beic
- Daic
- Central-Southwestern Tai
- Wenma-Southwestern Tai
- Sapa-Southwestern Tai
- Southwestern Tai
- Southwestern Tai P
- Shanic
- Southern Shanic
- Shan
Writing system
Myanmar script
Related languages
About the Shan language
Shan (ၵႂၢမ်းတႆးယႂ်) is spoken by about 3.6 million people, which makes it the 225th most spoken language in the world — just behind Garhwali (3.6 million) and ahead of Bangala (3.5 million). It belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family and, more precisely, to the Southern Shanic group within the Daic-Beic branch.
Where is Shan spoken?
Shan is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Myanmar (3.7 million) and Thailand (67,124).
Share of the population that speaks Shan: Myanmar 6.4% (3.7 million) and Thailand <0.1% (67,124).
Shan is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Shan is written in the Myanmar script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Northern Thai, Tai Dam, Thai, Northeastern Thai, Southern Thai, Lao and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 shn.
Frequently asked questions about Shan
How many people speak Shan?
Where is Shan spoken?
What language family does Shan belong to?
What is Shan called in Shan?
Is Shan an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.