When is と added to onomatopoeia?

Question

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?

Answer 1

Hi,

踊り手は つま先立ってぐるぐると回った。(Past sentence)

犬が自分のしっぽを追いかけてぐるぐる回っている。(Present participles)

About both sentences, you can with/without “と” work fine. I grew up in Japan. And even though for writing, we write with/without “と” both ways. Without “と” sounds could be slightly casual.

Answer 2

Hi. The first one with と is adverb and the second one is adjective. The first one said

the dancer spinningly turned, but second sentence describes as condition of how the dog IS. I hope this can help to understand.