Dear collegues,

We recently came across an unpublished letter written by a soldier in WWI containing a spelling <will> for discourse marker well (5x). In the same letter adverb well ((1x) and aux. will (1x) are spelt according to standard. The writer was born in Leyton, West Ham, London. There are a number of other non-standard spellings. Could <will> for <well> be related to the vocalization of final /l/?  Any thoughts that might shed light on this would be welcome.

Julia Fernández Cuesta and Christopher Langmuir 

-- 
Dr. Julia Fernández Cuesta
Associate Professor
Universidad de Sevilla
Departamento de Filología Inglesa (Lengua Inglesa)
C/ Palos de la Frontera s/n
Sevilla 41004
Spain
Tel.: +34 954 55 15 45
Fax: +34 954 55 15 16
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

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