Omitting the particle で in Xでもない


In the song "Eien no tobira" (永遠の扉) by Yonekura Chihiro (米倉千尋) the chorus
starts with this line:

> 言葉じゃなくて約束もなくて

Since じゃなくて is contraction of ではなくて, I would have expected the second clause
to say でもなくて, but it became もなくて with the で omitted instead. There is
possibility that the lyric writer really wanted to say "there is no my promise
either" instead of "it is not my promise either" but that would make it not
parallel to the the first clause "it is not my word" (sorry I can't find a
better translation for 言葉 in this context).

Assuming if the lyric line's second clause was supposed to say 「約束でもなくて」, is
it okay to omit the で particle and yet still retain the intended meaning
through parallel structure with the first clause? In the context of a song or
literature, does this kind of trick work?

_N.B. It is a really nice song. I recommend trying listening to it if you
haven't :)_




I'd have to say the answer is "no". Removing で would totally change the
meaning from "to not be" to "to not exist":

  * `約束もなくて`: "there is also no 約束"
  * `約束でもなくて`: "it is neither a 約束"

It is talking about a subject (which I couldn't determine) which:

  1. are not (human) words (described by `言葉じゃなく`), and
  2. have no _rules_ or _fate_ (`約束もなく`). I'm inclined to think it's more of _rules_ , but usage of `約束` for the meaning of `rules` is usually related to an organization or society (i.e. community rules, company rules, etc.). If it takes the meaning of _fate_ , then it instead means that the subject has no particular destiny that makes it unchangeable.

