Letter combination ea?

Question

The alphabet letter combination *ea* makes 6 sounds: bread [br**e**d], teacher ['t**iː**ʧə], break [br**eɪ**k], idea [aɪ'd**ɪə**], pageant ['pæʤ**ə**nt], bearable ['b**eə**rəbl]. I know that that the fact that the same letter combination can be read in so many different ways is related to the history of the English language. And basically it's easier to consult a dictionary and just remember the correct way of reading. But still why can *ea* be read in 6 different ways?

Answer 1

You are right that the orthography of English is related to its rich history and variety of influences. Early English actually sounded very Germanic, almost like Norwegian. It was very phonetic and every letter was pronounced in a word, just like in most Germanic languages. Because English has so many different sources for its vocabulary (Latin, Saxon, Celtic, Norman, etc.) it contains a multitude of words with different origins. Even though these words come from different origins, they must still conform to the orthography and alphabet of English, therefore they use the same digraph in different ways. That is why an originally Latin word like "pageant" uses the digraph -ea in a totally different manner than a Germanic word like "break".