Y do some words have same spelling but different pronunciations?

Answer 1

for e.g. minute, differentiation, etc... i think it depends upon the usage and perspective in which the word is used, and maybe as words were coined independent of coexistence of other words (many years ago) they were pronounced the way they were actually in the beginning, not depending on how the other, similar word is pronounced.

Answer 2

These words are what we call heteronyms. Heteronyms (also sometimes called heterophones) are words that are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings (in other words, they are homographs which differ in pronunciation or, technically, homographs which are not homophones). For example, the homographs desert (abandon) and desert (arid region) are heteronyms (pronounced differently), but mean (intend) and mean (average) are not (Ie. they are pronounced the same, or are homonyms).

I cannot explain why but I can give you examples. English had many developments and is still undergoing developments. I may not be able to tell you why all these things happen but I can surely help you understand. I just got some examples but if you want some more go to http://jonv.flystrip.com/heteronym/heteronym.htm

Here are some examples:

ablativeClass (A) AB-la-tiva grammatical case
a-BLAIT-ivtends to ablate (vaporize)
absentClass (B) AB-sentmissing
ab-SENTto keep oneself away
abstractClass (B,E) AB-strakt a summary
ab-STRAKT or AB-strakt not like an object
abuseClass (B) a-BYOOZ~ a drug
a-BYOOS

You will also notice that some words have different pronunciations because they are from the UK or the US.

These links could also be useful.

http://www.puzzlers.org/guide/index.php?expand=identity
http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_heteronyms.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/heteronym.html

The English language is a crazy language. I don't know why. Perhaps we'll both discover as we use it longer don't you think?

Answer 3

words changed spelling over the centuries but kept different spellings there are not too many words in the language as a whole which are spelt the same and pronounced differently now as we changed the spellings to reflect changes in prnunciation some time ago

Answer 4

Different cultures have different pronunciations and spelling and sometimes these stick to society.

Answer 5

cause the english language is the most screwed up language in the world

Answer 6

Why not? You got a problem with it?

Answer 7

There is no why. It just grew that way.