Dictionary
func'tional load'
Ling.
the relative frequency of occurrence of words that are differentiated in one and the same position by only one distinctive feature. In English, the opposition of voiced and voiceless
th has a low functional load being used only to distinguish such pairs as
ether and
either, or
wreath and
wreathe. Also called
func'tional yield'. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.