[Ads-l] Pertition

[Michael Newman]

Hi all,

In looking through the Baltimore municipal archives, we found a found spellings like “pertition” for petition from 1839. One interpretation is that it is a sign of non-rhoticity in the writer, who then would likely not be a Baltimorean. However, I’m wondering if it could be a lexical or phonological variant of its own.

Any ideas?








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