Use of なんか followed by possessive の

Question

I understand from itrasci's answer in this link that なんか after a noun acts like a weak form of は which downplays the importance of the noun. But please look at the following sentence (where the writer is talking about authors he has invented in order to write book reviews on them):

...具体的に言うと、牟田口正午｛むだぐちしょうご｝とか、大坂五兵｛おおさかごへい｝なんかの作品は今読んでも刺激的だと思いますよ。

Given the context I can see why he might be downplaying the authors but I'm sure なんか must be doing something different in this context. I would never write はの (or at least I've never seen it) and the は comes after 作品 anyway.

I was wondering if it might be a contraction of 何か suggesting 'the works of author A or author B or whatever' but it doesn't seem correct to just attach 何か directly to the end of a noun.

Please help me understand the grammar here and the contexts in which I can use it. Thanks.

Answer 1

牟田口正午とか、大坂五兵なんかの作品

(Aとか)Bなんか, (Aとか)Bとか, (Aやら)Bやら, etc. are colloquial versions of (Aや)Bなど.

≒ 牟田口正午や、大坂五兵などの作品
(works of Mudaguchi Shogo, Osaka Gohei, and others / and so on / etc.;
works by authors such as Mudaguchi Shogo and Osaka Gohei)

This phrase is used to give examples. See definition #1 on goo国語辞書「なんか」, #1 on goo国語辞書「など」, or #① on Weblio辞書「など」.

Compare:

牟田口正午と大坂五兵の作品
(works of Mudaguchi Shogo and Osaka Gohei)

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Examples:

抹茶アイスとか抹茶チョコなんかが好きです。
おじいさんは農場で牛とか豚とか羊なんかを育てている。
男の子はカエルとかカタツムリとか仔犬の尻尾とかでできている。