The measurement of Tibetan phonemic functional load

Using the concept of ‘functional load’ introduced from traditional linguistics, we measured the functional load of vowels, consonants and tones in Xiahe and Lhasa dialect based on phonemic system. The result shows that the difference between FL of Lhasa and Xiahe vowels is relatively small and FL of consonants and tones added in Lhasa dialect is close to that of consonants in Xiahe. Another computation suggests the information carried by consonant is transferred to tone for abscission of pre-initial consonant and final ending. This provides reference for the dialectic divisions and production of tone theory in historical linguistics.