The phonology of the Maastrichtian dialect, especially with regards to vowels is quite extensive due to the dialect's tonal nature.
 Taking all of that into consideration, the vocalic phonemes of Maastrichtian can be classified much like those found in other Limburgish dialects:
 The possible short vowel+glide sequences in the Maastrichtian dialect are /yj, uj, ɔj, æj, ɑj, iw, ɑw, æw/. The long vowel+glide sequences are /eːj, øːj, oːj, ɶːj, ɒːj, aːj/. The labial /w/ combines only with short vowels, whereas the palatal /j/ can be preceded by both short and long vowels. The sequences /eːj/ and /øːj/ contrast with diphthongal allophones of /eː/ and /øː/. Thus, beej  '(I) offer' does not rhyme with dee  'that (one)', nor does keuj  'cows' rhyme with keu  'billiard cue'. These are among the subtlest phonetic distinctions in the dialect.
 As noted above, the distinction between diphthongs and vowel+glide sequences is not clear-cut. Among the phonological diphthongs, especially /ɛj/ and /ɔw/ combined with Accent 1 phonetically resemble the vowel+glide sequences. The difference between  and  as well as  and  lies purely in the quality of the first element. There is no * sequence to rival the diphthong . In that regard, Maastrichtian is much like the Weert dialect, in which the three phonemic closing diphthongs are also associated with vowel+glide sequences in words with Accent 1, although they begin more open in Weert: [æj, ɶj, ɑw]. This does lead to a merger with /æj/ (written /ɛj/ in IPA transcriptions of Weert Limburgish on Wikipedia) and /ɑw/, unlike in Maastricht. Furthermore, the term Accent 1 stands merely for a short vowel in Weert, with the vowel+glide sequences /ɛj, œj, ɑw/ being the shorter than the diphthongs /ɛɪ, œʏ, ʌʊ/.
 Furthermore, /ɔw, ɑw/ (the first one combined with Accent 1) vary with /ɔj, ɑj/ with no evident social correlate. Thus, vojl 'dirty' can be pronounced as either /ˈvɔwl/ or /ˈvɔjl/, whereas gajdeef 'crook' can be pronounced as either /ˈɣɑwdeːf/ or /ˈɣɑjdeːf/.
 Stress location is the same as in the Standard Dutch cognates. Main stress is regularly on the penultimate syllable. The intonational system is much like that of Standard Dutch and Standard German.
 As many other Limburgish dialects, the Maastrichtian dialect features a distinction between Accent 1 and Accent 2, limited to stressed syllables. The former can be analyzed as lexically toneless, whereas the latter as an underlying high tone. Phonetically, syllables with Accent 2 are considerably longer. An example of a minimal pair is /ˈspøːlə/ 'to rinse' vs. /ˈspøː˦lə/ 'to play'. The difference is not marked in the orthography, so that both of those words are spelled speule.
 Van Buuren claims that the difference lies only in length, and that there is no tonal contrast anywhere. However, research shows that there is a crucial difference between words like vuur /ˈvyːʀ˦/ 'fire' and those like broet /ˈbʀuːt/ 'bride', as words of the former type have the pitch features typical of Accent 2, whereas the latter do not. Despite that, the Mestreechter Taol dictionary transcribes it as a length distinction, with Accent 2 being transcribed as longer than Accent 1.
 The distribution of the tonal contrast is rather erratic. It occurs in the following contexts:
 This means that neither the short tense /i, y, u/ nor the long lax /ɛː, ɶː, ɒː/ participate in the tonal contrast, being toneless by default.
 The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.
 [də ˈnoːʀ˦dəˌwent˦ æn də ˈzɔn ɦɑdən ən ˈdʀœkə desˈkøsi ˈøː˦vəʀ də ˈvʀɒːx | ˈweː vaːn ɦynən ˈtwijə də ˈstæʀ˦əkstə wɒːʀ | tun ˈʒys iːmɑnt vøːʀˈbɛː˦ kɒːm | deː nən ˈdekə ˈwæʀəmə ˈjɑs ˈɒːnɦɑt]
 De noordewind en de zon hadde 'n drökke discussie euver de vraog wee vaan hunen twieje de sterkste waor, toen zjuus iemand veurbij kaom dee 'nen dikke, werme jas aonhad.