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それが良{い}いのか悪{わり}ィのか正{ただ}しいことなのか、少し考{かんが}える。

I interpret this clause from 僕のヒーローアカデミア as "As to whether that is a good thing or a bad thing or something correct, I will think about it a little."

Why is 悪{わり}ィ used instead of 悪{わる}い (i.e. why the り syllable after わ rather than the る syllable)? Also, why is the い at the end written in 小さいカタカナ rather than ひらがな?

Chocolate
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lightweaver
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  • Related (See @Earthliŋ's answer): https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/18458/9831 ... and maybe: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/40081/9831 – Chocolate Jul 30 '17 at 05:44

1 Answers1

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As you can see in @Earthliŋ's answer that I linked above, this kind of sound change occurs quite often in colloquial speech.

/ui/ → /ii/
あつい → あちい・あちぃ・あちー
わるい → わりい・わりぃ・わりー
だるい → だりい・だりぃ・だりー

This is informal, and usually sounds masculine.

why is the い at the end written in 小さいカタカナ rather than ひらがな?

Katakana often look slangy, so I think they wanted to make it look more slangy.

Edit: As commented by @Sjiveru, the Kanatana ィ is also working as a cue for the slang pronunciation; 悪ィ with no furigana would still probably be read as わりい.

Chocolate
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