Talk:Functional load

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The functional load of tone in Mandarin Chinese, which is nearly as high as that of their vowel

Maybe in monosyllabic morphemes, but not so much in words of two or more syllables --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:07, 15 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Seeming counterexample may not be counterexample at all

The current article contains:

"Martinet predicted that perceptually similar pairs of phonemes with low functional load would merge. This has not been proved empirically; indeed, all empirical tests have come out against it; for example, /n/ merged with /l/ in Cantonese in word-initial position in the late 20th century although of all the consonants in binary opposition to /n/, only the /n/-/m/ opposition had a higher functional load than the /n/-/l/ opposition.^[1]"

The example may not be a counterexample, since it may not be about a low functional load minimal pair: the /n/-/l/-pair is quoted as the one but highest functional load minimal pair containing /n/. A relevant question, that unfortunately I cannot answer for lack of knowledge of Cantonese, is whether minimal pairs containing /n/ are rare in Cantonese after all.Redav (talk) 11:02, 4 July 2022 (UTC) Redav (talk) 11:02, 4 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

^ Cite error: The named reference surniy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[surniy-1] Cite error: The named reference surniy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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