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I was reading a manga and came across this line:

時代はもう侍なんざ必要としてねェがよ
どんなに時代が変わろうと
人には忘れちゃならねーもんがあらぁ

Which is roughly translated to:

The time has come where samurais are no longer needed, but no matter how the times may change, ...

I can understand the first two parts (but if there are any errors in my translation, please let me know), what I'm having problems with is the last part in bold. I have two questions.

First is, what does あらぁ mean? Why is it not ある? I tried looking for sentences with similar らぁendings and found some here. I'll just copy-paste some sentences and their translations from the website below:

おまえを男にしてやらぁ、ジム。
I'll make a man of you, Jim.

あと勇気があらぁ、ライオンでさえロング・ジョンにはかなわんぞ!
and brave--a lion's nothing alongside of Long John!

いいか、やつとうまいことやりさえすりゃあ、やつは時計がらみのことなら、ほとんどなんでも塩梅してくれらぁね。
Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock.

Edited: Realized I was taking lines from Japanese versions of English books, so I added some actual Japanese examples below:

犬にだってプライドがあらぁ
Even dogs have their pride (source: title of this post)

PCいらずのキャプチャーマシン
GV-HDRECを注文した これでPS2でも録画できらぁ
Video capture device without a PC. Just ordered a GV-HDREC. With this it is possible to record even on a PS2. (source: tweet)

From what I understand, there don't seem to be any differences from the る ending of the verbs. Is らぁ supposed to be some sort of speech style or dialect?

My second question is about the grammar structure of the last part. I found online sources which state that AにはBものがある is a structure which means A gives off feeling B, or in A there exists some element/feature B. Is that grammar used in my above sentence, or is it something else? If so, does the に function as a particle which points to the place where something exists, is it a pair with the がある part? Can the last sentence be translated as "Within the people('s hearts?), there are things they must never forget"?

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  • Hi welcome to Japanese SE! +1 for good formatting. Don't worry about your English or your question. It's a good question!
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Sep 22, 2021 at 18:47

1 Answer 1

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It looks like らぁ in your examples denotes quickly pronounced/slurred るわ:

人には忘れちゃならねーもんがあらぁ → 人には忘れちゃならねーもんがあるわ

おまえを男にしてやらぁ、ジム。→ おまえを男にしてやるわ、ジム。

あと勇気があらぁ → あと勇気があるわ(or possibly あと勇気があるな)

ほとんどなんでも塩梅してくれらぁね。→ ほとんどなんでも塩梅してくれるわね。

これでPS2でも録画できらぁ → これでPS2でも録画できるわ

Going by the Stevenson’s quotes on Weblio, it seems to be used for “rough men” speech.

Originally it may have come from the characteristic Tokyo Shitamachi pronunciation; see What does the 「たあ」 do in this sentence?

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  • Does this sound change apply to non-る verbs as well? Such as 行くわ → 行かぁ、飲む → 飲まぁ? And aside from my sample sentences above, I'm curious if in general (other literature works, real life etc) is らぁ actually considered "rough men" speech? From the link you shared it seems like it may simply be a colloquial dialect that anyone can use?
    – Codebird
    Commented Sep 23, 2021 at 19:07
  • Another similar case: japanese.stackexchange.com/a/76610/3295 Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 19:59

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