Comparing two items: How does 「...と...とどちらが」work?


I've seen the pattern 「...と...とどちらが」when comparing two items, but I'm unclear
how it works. Here's an example: 肉と魚とどちらが好きですか。"Which do you prefer, meat or
fish?"

I'm unclear what the second と after 魚 is doing. I know you can include a と
after BOTH items when you're listing two items with "and", but then it seems
like that 「肉と魚と」 is just floating in space. Since this is a standard polite
sentence and not a casual conversational one, it seems like some other
particle like は, or even just a comma (indicating an omitted は) should be
there.

Or, is that second と supposed to be the "target of comparison" と, the same one
used in ...と同じ or ...と違う?

What's the grammar breakdown of this common phrasing, especially for the
second と?




According to
[デジタル大辞泉](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A8/#jn-154670), it is not
the と meaning _and_ (格助詞), but a particle of another category 並列助詞. It is a
marker for enumeration.

> ［並助］いくつかの事柄を列挙する意を表す。「君―ぼく―の仲」 「幸ひの、なき―ある―は」〈源・玉鬘〉

Note that [weblio](https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A8) lists it as a
格助詞 and 並列 is a usage. So the category is a matter of opinions.

Either way, both と are more like commas and different from と in と同じ/違う.




According to
[デジタル大辞泉](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A8/#jn-154670), it is not
the と meaning _and_ (格助詞), but a particle of another category 並列助詞. It is a
marker for enumeration.

> ［並助］いくつかの事柄を列挙する意を表す。「君―ぼく―の仲」 「幸ひの、なき―ある―は」〈源・玉鬘〉

Note that [weblio](https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A8) lists it as a
格助詞 and 並列 is a usage. So the category is a matter of opinions.

Either way, both と are more like commas and different from と in と同じ/違う.

