a Angel

"Now, I ain’t alone, as you may think I am. There’s a young man hid with me, in comparison with which young man I am a Angel."
Great Expectations, Dickens.


Could you please explain why article 'a' is used instead of 'an'.


According to Google Ngrams, Dickens is not the only one to do this.


Thanks a lot.

This is dialogue, Dickens suggests the character's regional speech, or his social class by using non-standard English. Ain't and hid are other examples in this little extract.

Very helpful, thanks.