53193
The position of 「なんか」 in a sentence to emphasize a feeling got me mixed up.
I've seen this placed in two different ways, however I don't know if there is
any difference. Here there are two examples:

> あなた **なんか** 失いたくない。(I DON’T want to lose you.)
>
> カラオケ **なんか** 行きたくない。(I DON’T wanna go to a karaoke.)

And here 「なんか」is placed at the end.

> あなたを失いたく **なんか** ない。(I DON’T want to lose you.)
>
> カラオケに行きたく **なんか** ない。(I DON’T wanna go to a karaoke.)

Is there any difference in nuance? And, is it possible to use なんか at the end
of a sentence with another verb with another tense/form other than たくない ? All
the sentences I read that had なんか at the end meant "to not want to do sth".
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2017-09-11T09:21:00.240
53192
2017-09-11T09:46:29.170
14270
question
grammar syntax sentence
Position of なんか in a sentence when emphasizing a negative feeling
The function of なんか is to express a negative feeling towards the word
immediately preceding it. It indicates a dismissive sentiment that the
preceding word is worthless or undesirable.

So in the case of カラオケに行きたくない it makes sense to place it in either of the
locations you've mentioned, because both karaoke itself (カラオケなんか) and the
desire to go there (行きたくなんか) are undesirable in the speaker's opinion.

However in the case of あなたを失いたくない, it only makes sense to put it in the second
position あなたを失いたくなんかない. This is because while "wanting to lose you" is an
undesirable notion that can be vehemently dismissed, "you" is not.
あなたなんか失いたくない would mean something like "I don't want to lose someone as
worthless as you", which doesn't make much sense.

For the same reason, you won't usually see this なんか attached to a non-negative
construction - because it's dismissive, it's only really natural to use it
when you're negating the attached word. Additionally, I don't think なんか can be
attached to actual verbs, only nouns and adjectival/adverbal constructions, so
it doesn't attach easily to positive constructions in a grammatical sense
either.

The related なんて, which can convey essentially the same sentiment, attaches
more easily to verbs and positive adjectives, but again since it's dismissive
it's not commonly used without some kind of negation (eg. カラオケに行きたいなんて思わない。 or
カラオケに行くなんてごめんだ。) When it is used in positive constructions, it usually
expresses an implied disbelief (eg. 彼がカラオケに行くなんて… is positive on the surface,
but there's an implied ありえない or 信じられない or 馬鹿げている etc.)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-11T09:46:29.170
53193
2017-09-11T09:46:29.170
25107
53192
answer