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There are many graphemes that can represent the schwa sound, several of which start with an E:

  • EI as in FOREIGN
  • EO as in SURGEON or DUNGEON

I am curious if the grapheme EA can also represent a schwa sound. The only possibility I can think of is OCEAN (/ˈoʊ.ʃən/).

  • The O represents a Long O sound.
  • The C can represent an /ʃ/, as in words like APPRECIATE, OFFICIATE, DEPRECIATE, SPECIES and ASSOCIATE).
  • The EA could represent a /ə/, as EI, EO and EU do.
  • And the N often represents an /n/.

But it's also possible that the CE represents an /ʃ/, as it does in CRETACEOUS, CURVACEOUS, CRUSTACEAN, and ECHINACEA. Then the A by itself would represent the schwa, not the EA.

I am trying to think of any other words where EA represents a schwa. The closest I can find is the EAU in BUREAUCRAT.

Are there any English words where the EA grapheme represents a schwa sound?

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    Which accent/dialect/country? Possibly "forehead" in some accents but we're going to get deep into a debate about reduced vowels and you'll wish you never asked the question.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 9:19
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    If "surgeon" is acceptable for "EO", is "sergeant" acceptable for "EA"? (Not sure I'd accept either, personally, hence not posting as an answer!)
    – psmears
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 10:19
  • I would definitely accept sergeant fot EA... if you add that, I'd accept it as an answer!
    – kanamekun
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 13:26
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    One must accept the fact that in English spelling it is often impossible to reliably assign pieces of the word's pronunciation to pieces of the word's spelling (or vice versa).
    – Daniel Asimov
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 14:07
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    Or, as every honest ESL teacher tells their students, English spelling has no reliable relation to English pronunciations, meaning that both have to be learned, separately, for each word.. Just like Chinese.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 18:52

2 Answers 2

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I'm not sure I'd accept it myself, but if "surgeon" and "dungeon" are acceptable for "EO", then for "EA"

Sergeant

might fit the bill.

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According to Wiktionary, in GenAmE, laryngeal and pharyngeal may be pronounced with no sound corresponding to the e. So you could say that ea is pronounced [ə]. (But it could be argued that really the e is silent and the a on its own is pronounced [ə].)

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    Yes, In those cases it might well be that those speakers analyse the < e > as there to make the < g > ‘soft’. Again making it really a case of just the < a > representing a schwa. (So the < e > is interpreted as part of a < ge > digraph, not an < ea > one)
    – Araucaria - Him
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 15:05

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