Functional contrast and phoneme load in modern Sino-Korean: A quantitative structural analysis of initial–final asymmetry

Abstract

This study investigated the distribution of phoneme load and structural organization of the modern Sino-Korean (MSK) phonological system using a dataset of 3000 standardized monosyllabic readings. Drawing on Wang’s theory of functional load and Kong and Li’s computational model, we analyzed the patterns of functional contrast between initials and finals based on binary and unary oppositions, structural load metrics, and phonological saturation. The analysis revealed that 87.54% of the total phoneme load was concentrated in binary oppositions, whereas only 37.0% of all theoretically possible initial–final combinations were realized. This pattern of functional contrast reflects a system governed by phonological economy, prioritizing communicative efficiency over combinatorial completeness. Syllables with rare initial–final combinations tend to exhibit higher functional contrast potential but lower structural stability, whereas frequent combinations form a compact core that bears the majority of the system's communicative burden. These patterns suggest that the MSK system exemplifies a highly function-centric structure, optimizing the contrast through selective saturation and asymmetrical phoneme load allocation. Although the analysis is based on standardized readings and is limited to monosyllabic forms, it establishes a theoretical and methodological foundation for phoneme load analysis in non-tonal languages. The proposed model can be extended to corpus-based data from historical layers of Sino-Korean or tonal Sinitic dialects. This model offers a typologically adaptable framework for understanding the phonological economy and patterns of functional contrast across languages.