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From a book about space:

近年になり、観測技術の向上や大きなプロジェクトとして取り組まれるようになって、惑星の存在の確認が待たれていたのです。

And from a ghost story:

そんな訳で、小学生の頃は友達と学校帰りや家に帰ってから山へ入り、虫取りや秘密基地を作ったりして泥だらけになるまで遊んでいました。

The や seems like some kind of "and" but I can't quite grasp how it's working grammatically in these situations. What is this? (not 100% sure these are even the same grammar, but they appear similar)

I know や in the sense of 「トマトやオレンジが好きです」but I fail to see the connection between that grammar and these sentences, if there is any.

Aurast
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  • Possible duplicate of [The many ways to say "and" in Japanese](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/474/the-many-ways-to-say-and-in-japanese) – naruto Jan 13 '19 at 05:37
  • Reading that question and its answers didn't help me understand this. Seems quite different to me. – Aurast Jan 13 '19 at 05:43
  • Okay, then it's because these are not well-written Japanese sentences. Retracted my close vote. – naruto Jan 13 '19 at 05:56

1 Answers1

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This is the same や you already know, which is used to list two or more nouns (or noun equivalents). But these Japanese sentences are actually poorly-written because the second item after や is not a noun.

In your first example, 観測技術の向上 is a noun phrase, but 大きなプロジェクトとして取り組まれるようになって is not. The second part should be a nominalized clause, 大きなプロジェクトとして取り組まれるようになったこと.

近年になり、（観測技術の向上）や（大きなプロジェクトとして取り組まれるようになったこと）で、惑星の存在の確認が待たれていたのです。
Recently, the identification of a planet has been anticipated because of the advancement of observational techniques and the fact that it has been worked on as part of big projects.

In your second example, 学校帰り is a noun, but 家に帰ってから is not. The latter should have been a noun phrase such as 帰宅後.

友達と（学校帰り）や（帰宅後）に山へ入り...
I used to go into a mountain with my friends on my way home or after returning home, ...

naruto
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  • Thanks, your corrected sentences make perfect sense to me. I think I understand this now. Another Japanese native I asked says that these kinds of sentences are somewhat common. Like 「あのお店よく行くの？」「うん学校帰りや、帰ってから行ったり」sounds okay to her. But I guess maybe it's not technically 100% correct. I'll mark your answer correct after giving it a couple of days in case anyone else wants to answer :) – Aurast Jan 13 '19 at 06:45
  • @Aurast These sentences are at least easily comprehensible to me, and maybe we should not frown upon these sentences too much in casual speech. In formal text, I believe it's very close to a grammatical mistake. – naruto Jan 14 '19 at 11:40