なンも / ウンニャ / 誰にということもなく / 者たち

[eeky]

Hi,

1. 「俺はなンも、自由を受け入れる変わりモンのしもべ妖精がいねえとは言っちょらん。」

Assuming that なンも = なにも, why is half a word written in hiragana and the other half in katakana? To me it looks very odd.

2. 「だが、連中の大多数は、決してそんな説得は聞かねえぞ — ウンニャ、骨折り損だ」

a) What is ウンニャ?

b) How does this dialect language like いねえ / 言っちょらん / 聞かねえ / etc. seem to speakers of standard Japanese? E.g. is it very crude? Moderately crude? Fairly familiar/normal but just adding a bit of colour?

3. ルード・バグマンは、生徒の誰にということもなく、笑いかけ、ウインクしている。

I cannot fathom 誰にということもなく at all.

4. 「その者たちは、大広間のいちばん前に来るがよい」

a) Is 者たち pronounced ものたち?

b) While I can grasp the intended meaning OK, I am uncertain of the exact function of が in that position.

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
This なにも doesn't change to なんも in standard Japanese. Probably the author emphasized it.

2) a)
a dialectal version of いや / いいや.

b)
Moderately crude and a bit rural.

3)
誰に / ということもなく
に indicates the one Ludo Bagman is smiling and winking to. It means that he doesn't do it to a specific student.

4) a)
Yes.

b)
～するがいい is an idiom. This is from classical Japanese, therefore any nominalizer is not used after the verb.

 

[Mike Cash]

1. Just style. Same reason another word in the same sentence.

3. To no individual student n particular

 

[eeky]

Same reason another word in the same sentence.

Right, but that is a whole word. It was specifically the mixture of kana within the same word that I found odd.

I suppose we can do something similar in English with italics for emphasis, say in "uninterested".

 

[Mike Cash]

Right, but that is a whole word. It was specifically the mixture of kana within the same word that I found odd.

変わり者 is one word.

 

[eeky]

変わり者 is one word.

I don't see your point. How is that similar to なンも?

 

[Mike Cash]

I don't see your point. How is that similar to なンも?

Mix of hiragana and katakana in one word.

 

[eeky]

Mix of hiragana and katakana in one word.

?????

Edit: Oh, you mean the way it was originally written. I forgot that and was only looking at the way you wrote it in your message.

 

[eeky]

For me, though, なンも is still more unexpected than 変わりモン. Although 変わりモン may be considered one word, the モン part is a distinct unit of meaning within it. In English it's like my example uninterested, whereas なンも seems more like uninterested or something strange like that.

 

[nekojita]

To me there is a natural split between 何・も just as there is between 変わり・者. も adds meaning (compared to 何 by itself). It has a distinct meaning/role in this and similar words which would also naturally split this way (いつ・も、どこ・も、だれ・も).

The speaker's accent does this の→ん change, and in both cases to show this 者・何 get switched to kana, and in both cases the whole of that "unit" gets katakana. The other parts of the words in question, (変わり、も) don't get touched, and remain in their standard formats.

 

[eeky]

To me there is a natural split between 何・も just as there is between 変わり・者.

I agree, but that's not where the hiragana/katakana boundary lies. Actually, half the word 何 (or this dialect rendition of it) is in hiragana and half in katakana. That's provided the mapping of なン to 何, that I have been assuming, is correct.

 

[nekojita]

Sorry, I misread it. In which case it is a bit unusual but I guess it's just like when people write things like しまセン - emphasis/showing accent.