Topic
Functional load
About: Functional load is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 88 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2104 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: Testing the usefulness of the theoretical notion of functional load as a means of determining which consonant distinctions have the greatest impact on listeners’ perceptions of accentedness and comprehensibility suggests that the functional load principle can be effectively employed in guiding some aspects of pronunciation instruction.
380 citations
TL;DR: Several aspects of functional load in English that may be relevant for assessing the relative importance of segmental features of learners' speech are examined.
Abstract: The concept of functional load has been used by various writers in various linguistic fields and has consequently received differing definitions and methods of calculation. It has not, however, been applied to the teaching of pronunciation. This article examines several aspects of functional load in English that may be relevant for assessing the relative importance of segmental features of learners' speech. Implications for the use of pronunciation drill books are discussed.
223 citations
TL;DR: The first larger-scale study of the functional load hypothesis is presented, using data from sound changes in a diverse set of languages and finds that minimal pair count and phoneme probability better predict merger than change in system entropy at the lexical or phoneme level.
215 citations
TL;DR: The idea that functional load offers a tool of potentially great explanatory power in diachronic linguistics is shared by a number of contemporary linguists, particularly those influenced at first or second hand by Prague as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The idea that functional load offers a tool of potentially great explanatory power in diachronic linguistics is shared by a number of contemporary linguists, particularly those influenced at first or second hand by Prague. It is the purpose of the present paper to investigate the hypothesis that functional load plays a significant role in sound change. I will attempt to demonstrate that functional load, if it is a factor in sound change at all, is one of the least important of those we know anything about, and that it is best disregarded in discussions centering on the cause and direction of phonological change.
145 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a variety of statistical information about spoken English was obtained by analyzing a considerable body of conversational material and narrative taken from "Phonetic Readers"; the analyses were carried out by using a digital computer.
Abstract: A variety of statistical information about spoken English was obtained. The data are the results of analyzing a considerable body of conversational material and narrative taken from “Phonetic Readers”; the analyses were carried out by using a digital computer. The principles for selecting the speech material are discussed. Counts were obtained for the frequency of occurrence of phonemes, for the digram frequencies of phonemes, for word length, etc. Stress was taken into consideration, and many of the statistics were obtained separately for stressed and unstressed syllables. In addition, the frequency distribution of minimal pairs was obtained. Minimal pairs are the phoneme pairs that minimally distinguish one word from another. All results were evaluated from the articulatory point of view. It was found that, in spoken English, dental and alveolar articulations predominate and that manner rather than place of articulation is the dimension that carries by far the greatest functional load.
142 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2017 | 6 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2015 | 4 |