On the other hand, the distinctions between several Esperanto consonants carry very light functional loads, though they are not in complementary distribution and therefore not allophones.
The distinction between e and ej carries a light functional load, in the core vocabulary perhaps only distinctive before alveolar sonorants, such as kejlo ('peg'), kelo ('cellar'); mejlo ('mile'), melo ('badger'); Rejno ('Rhine'), reno ('kidney').