When is と added to onomatopoeia?


While at first I believed it was simply bound to each individual word, I've
noticed that the same onomatopoeic word sometimes has と after it and sometimes
it doesn't.

Here's a case I stumbled upon:

> 踊り手は つま先立ってぐるぐると回った
>
> 犬が自分のしっぽを追いかけてぐるぐる回っている

What difference does the inclusion of と make?




I am going to post a rather simplistic answer just covering the basics.

There are cases (1) where adding a 「と」 is **appropriate** , (2) where adding a
「と」 is **inappropriate** , and (3) where only adding a 「 **に** 」, not a 「と」,
is appropriate.

1) When an onomatopoeia functions adverbially to modify a verb, a 「と」 is often
added. In very informal speech, on the contrary, it is often omitted.

> 「ワンワン **と** [犬]{いぬ}が[鳴]{な}いている。」 = "A dog is barking 'bowwow'."
>
> 「[女]{おんな}はトウキョウナゴヤをゴツン **と** [殴]{なぐ}り、[部屋]{へや}を[出]{で}ていった。」= "The woman
> clonked TokyoNagoya in the head and ran out of the room."

2) When an onomatopoeia is used with the verb 「する」, it is **inappropriate** to
add a 「と」.

> 「 **ニコニコするなっ** ！ここは[陸軍]{りくぐん}だ！マクドナルドじゃねえぞっ！」 = "Don't be smiling! This is
> the Army, not McDonald's!"
>
> 「トウキョウナゴヤは[仕事]{しごと}もしないで **ブラブラして** いる。」 = "TokyoNagoya is bumming around
> all day."

3) When describing a change of state using an onomatopoeia, one would
generally need to add a 「に」 instead of a 「と」.

> 「くたくた **に** なるまで[歩]{ある}いた。」 = "I walked until I was pooped."
>
> 「きんきん **に** [冷]{ひ}やしたビールはうまい。」 = "Ice-cold beer tastes good."

