The meaning of と in 未来の国からはるばると


> 未来の国からはるばる **と**

This is the name of the first chapter of "Doraemon" (1).

What is the function of と in this case?

Apparently, it's not for quoting, and it doesn't seems to mean "if/when,"
"with" or "and..."

[Here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18484/how-to-
use-%E3%81%AF%E3%82%8B%E3%81%B0%E3%82%8B-%E3%81%AF%E3%82%8B%E3%81%B0%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A8-in-
a-sentence) there is one answer in which they say that と turns a word into an
adverb. But はるばる is an adverb, isn't it?

Thank you!




My Japanese dictionary says that はるばる is an adverb and sometimes is used with
と. So you are right — the existence of と doesn’t change the grammatical role
of はるばる. In fact, はるばる and はるばると are pretty much the same in terms of both
usage and meaning.

As background, sometimes adverbs in Japanese are followed by と or に. (See
[https://kotobank.jp/word/副詞-123983](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%89%AF%E8%A9%9E-123983);
the 語形的分類 section in ニッポニカ explains this.)

Whether you add と or not depends on each person.

The following is just my opinion as a native speaker of Japanese. This is
totally not a linguistic explanation and my major is not linguistics.

Ending sentences with an adverb _without_ と or に seems unusual (though of
course there are exceptions, but I think most of them are in the narration of
TV shows or literature).

So without a と or に following the adverb at the end of the sentence, it makes
me feel like the sentence has ended suddenly. Adding と at the end of the
sentence tells readers that there is something omitted at the end of the
sentence, for example “やってきた”.

The と helps me recognize that this sentence includes an omitted phrase at the
end, and as a result I don’t feel that it ends suddenly, making it feel more
natural (especially in a language like Japanese where omitting things is
common).




My Japanese dictionary says that はるばる is an adverb and sometimes is used with
と. So you are right — the existence of と doesn’t change the grammatical role
of はるばる. In fact, はるばる and はるばると are pretty much the same in terms of both
usage and meaning.

As background, sometimes adverbs in Japanese are followed by と or に. (See
[https://kotobank.jp/word/副詞-123983](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%89%AF%E8%A9%9E-123983);
the 語形的分類 section in ニッポニカ explains this.)

Whether you add と or not depends on each person.

The following is just my opinion as a native speaker of Japanese. This is
totally not a linguistic explanation and my major is not linguistics.

Ending sentences with an adverb _without_ と or に seems unusual (though of
course there are exceptions, but I think most of them are in the narration of
TV shows or literature).

So without a と or に following the adverb at the end of the sentence, it makes
me feel like the sentence has ended suddenly. Adding と at the end of the
sentence tells readers that there is something omitted at the end of the
sentence, for example “やってきた”.

The と helps me recognize that this sentence includes an omitted phrase at the
end, and as a result I don’t feel that it ends suddenly, making it feel more
natural (especially in a language like Japanese where omitting things is
common).

