functional load

plural functional loads

1. countableuncountableTargeted exposure of an implement or organ to stimuli or other straining it is supposed or being tested to tolerate.

   Here we studied serotoninergic innervation of visceral organs during functional load and under pathological conditions.

   2004, A. E. Lychkova, “Serotoninergic Nervous System of the Heart and Abdominal Organs during Functional Load and Pathology”, in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine volume, volume 137, page 339

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   Here we address the question of how embryonic fibroblasts interact with the extracellular matrix to form a functional load-bearing tissue of defined mechanical properties.

   2018 October 2, David F. Holmes, Ching-Yan Chloé Yeung, Richa Garva, Egor Zindy, Susan H. Taylor, Yinhui Lu, Simon Watsona, Nicholas S. Kalson, Karl E. Kadler, “Synchronized mechanical oscillations at the cell–matrix interface in the formation of tensile tissue”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 115, number 40, →DOI, page E9288a

   Synonyms: functional performance, functional loading

2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA measure of how much a difference between phonemes disambiguates between different words.

   The difference between voiced and voiceless TH in English bears a low functional load.

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   The term functional load is customarily used in linguistics to describe the extent and degree of contrast between linguistic units, usually phonemes. In its simplest expression, functional load is a measure of the number of minimal pairs which can be found for a given opposition. More generally, in phonology, it is a measure of the work which two phonemes (or a distinctive feature) do in keeping utterances apart—in other words, a gauge of the frequency with which two phonemes contrast in all possible environments.

   1967, Robert D. King, “Functional Load and Sound Change”, in Language, volume 43, number 4, page 831

   Collectively, (3) to (8) provide evidence for the reconstruction of morpheme- and root-initial *g, albeit with quite a low functional load.

   1992, Malcolm D. Ross, “The Sound of Proto-Austronesian: An Outsider's View of the Formosan Evidence”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 31, number 1, page 34

   Following the adverbial-only stage, verbal morphology appears. At first it is not used systematically, and learners continue to rely on time-adverbials. As the use of tense morphology increases, the functional load of the adverbials decreases and the actual ratio of time adverbials to finite verbs may also decrease.

   1999, Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, “FROM MORPHEME STUDIES TO TEMPORAL SEMANTICS: Tense-Aspect Research in SLA”, in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, volume 23, number 3, page 351