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What do the words じゃが and おるかの mean? Here are the sentences in which I found
these words.

  1. 警察の者 **じゃが** 。
  2. ジョーという少年は **おるかの**?
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2015-04-09T07:07:32.637
23690
2021-12-06T05:29:10.737
2021-12-06T05:29:10.737
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question
dialects role-language
What do the words じゃが and おるかの mean?
Those are good examples of what my favorite author [筒井康隆]{つついやすたか} has
termed「[全国共通]{ぜんこくきょうつう}いなか[言葉]{ことば}」, which I would translate to "All-Japan
Standard Provincial Dialect".

It is an imaginary dialect, instead of an existing dialect, that is used in
stories. Believe it or not, it is most often used in children's stories.
(Which is why I rarely recommend that beginning learners use children's
stories as a study material. They will encounter strange sentence endings that
they will not find in textbooks or even dictionaries.)

Practically all nationally-known children's stories take place in a small town
in the countryside, but they never tell you where exactly in Japan. The kind
of Japanese spoken by the characters all virtually falls within the realm of
this imaginary dialect. If they use a real, existing dialect, the kids,
parents or teachers will not understand it unless they are from that area.

「[警察]{けいさつ}の[者]{もの} **じゃが** 。」＝「警察の者 **ですが** 。」= "I am from the Police
Department."

「ジョーという[少年]{しょうねん}は **おるかの**?」＝「ジョーという少年は **いますかねぇ** ？」= "Is there a boy named
Joe here?"

EDIT: An interesting (or rather funny) fact about this Standard country speech
is that it is actively used in Japanese translations of stories from outside
of Japan as long as the characters are from the countryside in their own
country. Subbing and dubbing of foreign films are no exception, either. The
city guys will be speaking Tokyo dialect and the country guys will be speaking
this imaginary provincial dialect -- especially when the country guy is rather
old.
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2015-04-09T07:35:40.937
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2021-12-06T05:04:18.893
2021-12-06T05:04:18.893
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answer