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MEASUREMENT CRITERIA ARE DEVELOPED FOR THE QUANTIFICATION OF THE FUNCTIONAL LOAD OF THE PHONEMES OF A LANGUAGE. THE CONCEPT OF FUNCTIONAL LOAD OR YIELD, FROM CERTAIN THEORIES OF LINGUISTIC CHANGE, STATES THAT SOME CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE DISTINCTIVE SOUNDS OF A LANGUAGE DO MORE WORK THAN OTHERS BY OCCURRING MORE FREQUENTLY AND IN MORE LINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENTS THAN OTHER CONTRASTS. THE CRITERIA DEVELOPED, WHICH UTILIZE SHANNON'S MEASURE OF ENTROPY, CAN BE USED TO MEASURE THE WORK OF PHONEMES, ALLOPHONES, OR COMPONENTS AND ARE THUS APPLICABLE IN ALL CURRENT THEORIES OF PHONOLOGY. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THERE IS A BALANCE POINT IN THE PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF ANY LANGUAGE BETWEEN THE FORCE OF LEAST EFFORT LEADING TO LOWEST REDUNDANCY AND THE NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD, WHICH LEADS TO LOWER RELATIVE ENTROPY. (KL)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert