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I'm happy with the purpose of と when it precedes verbs like 言う、聞く、思う etc. The
following sentence puzzles me:

> おじいさんは「雀は大丈夫かな。」と、大変がっかりしました。

I understand that the man feels disappointed and wonders if the sparrow is
alright, but I can't make a sensible translation. Did he say it while feeling
disappointed, or did he say it in a disappointed manner? Please explain if
this is a shorthand way of saying a longer expression or whether it is common
to be able to quote feelings in Japanese.

Here's a slightly different one:

> 「舌切り雀のお宿はどこだ、ちゅんちゅんちゅん。」と探し回りました。

I know that と is used with sound effects (for want of a better word) so
ちゅんちゅんちゅん needs it, but there's a whole sentence in quotes and it needs to be
'said' or 'asked' or 'thought'. It doesn't make sense for it to be 'looked
around-ed'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-27T19:18:20.400
24583
2020-08-10T02:50:21.043
7944
question
grammar quotes
Use of quote marker と before unusual verbs
You can replace と with と思いながら or と思っていて etc if that helps structure them for
you. Though I like the elegant ambiguity of not knowing for certain if he's
thinking silently or thinking aloud.

I think there is some similarity in English though, when books use italics to
represent thoughts without explicitly saying "he thought" or "she thought".

Edit, as requested, example translations:

> おじいさんは「雀は大丈夫かな。」と、大変がっかりしました。

_Little sparrow, are you ok?_ worried the old man.

The old man felt miserable. Would the sparrow be all right?

> 「舌切り雀のお宿はどこだ、ちゅんちゅんちゅん。」と探し回りました。

_Chun chun chun_ the old man searched, _Snipped-tongue Sparrow, where are
you?_

_Snipped-tongue Sparrow, where are you hiding?_ the old man searched. _Here?
Chun-chun. Here? Chun-chun. Or here? Chun-chun-chun_
CC BY-SA 4.0
2015-05-27T20:04:01.907
24584
2020-08-10T02:50:21.043
2020-08-10T02:50:21.043
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answer