Usage of なんて and なんか as emphasis.

Question

When are なんて and なんか used as emphasis in casual speech? Are they used when you're surprised, angry or can it be both? What sort of feeling does it convey to the listener compared to a normal sentence without it.

For example, in the following 3 sentences I'm not entirely sure what the "なんて” and ”なんか” are expressing.

こんな所におばけなんていねーよ。 こんなところにおばけなんていねーよ。 There are no ghosts in a place like this.

彼女が結婚したなんてちっとも知らなかった。 かのじょがけっこんしたなんてちっともしらなかった。 I had no idea she got married.

私なんか3枚のレポートも書けない。 わたしなんか３まいのレポートもかけない。 I cannot even write a 3 page report.

Answer 1

They are basically "weak" form of は in this context. My grammar book says 「〜を大切ではないと考えている（軽視する）時の言葉」. Basically when you're kind of ignoring the importance of, or even slightly putting down, the topic of the sentence. 愛なんか要らない。(I don't need love!)

So like for your first example to me sounds like, "There's no stupid ghosts around here" (like almost taunting). Or the second one has the tone of "Well, I had no idea she got married, but whatever."

The usage is 微妙（びみょう）. Don't overuse it, or you'll sound like you're better than everyone/everything. Especially don't use it if something needs to have importance placed on it.

Answer 2

@istrasci's answer is well-formed from the grammar perspective, but a little history of the words themselves:

なんて is actually a contracted form of 等（など）という.

So in your example:

こんな所におばけなんていねーよ

There are no ghosts (or anything similar to ghosts).

I can see how that's a "strengthener" because you're not only talking about おばけ specifically, but any sort of おばけ-like things :).

なんか, on the other hand, is a contracted form of　何か, meaning "something". I see なんか as more of a filler than なんて, but I do agree that they're often used interchangeably, despite being different words.

Answer 3

I make a whole reply, but this is somehow a comment to @makdad's own answer.

First, you shouldn't grammatically be able to interchange なんて and なんか, since they have different grammatical functions.

なんて

なんて goes before a noun since "AなんてB" is "the A which is a sort of B". So the correct sentence would rather be

お化けなんてものはいないよ.
There are no such things as ghosts!

なんか

なんか goes before a verb, adjective… and is rather an interjection.
これ、なんか変だろう！
This thing, eh, weird isn't it?

こんな所にお化けなんかいねー
Ghosts? Here? You must be crazy!