X mo Y mo versus X to Y

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1. My understanding, from a purely linguistic standpoint, is that と、も are completely different kinds of particles. と is a kaku-joshi (格助詞), a case particle. も is a kakari-joshi (係助詞), a binding particle.

   I hope someone can figure out what case (格) と specifies. I think it it overlaps with the comitative case (“together with”). Japanese Wikipedia defines the function of と as indicating: **shared partnership** (*emphasis mine*); the result of an action; quotations; and parallels.

   So: 本と雑誌を買いました can be understood as something like… “**Along with** the book(s), [I] bought the magazine(s).”

   The binding particle も indicates: analogous things; parallels, **enumerations** (*emphasis mine*), additions, degrees (amounts), impressions, emphasis (highlights), and is used with indefinite pronouns (だれ*も*, どれ*も*, どこ*も*) to show complete affirmation or denial.

   Here’s the linguistic jump and difference between と、も. In the sentence: 本も雑誌も買いました, も doesn’t change the case of either 本 or 雑誌. There is an invisible case particle を (accusative, object) before each も: 本をも雑誌をも買いました. The nuance then, is that も introduces a list of similar, analogous, parallel objects: [I] bought [both] the book[s] and the magazine[s]. The books and the magazines are equal here because they’re both objects in a broader list.

   Compare that to 本と, which is often translated as “and” (which isn’t wrong per se), but the subtle shift is that there is no invisible を before or after と — you can only mark each noun with one case particle. “Book” cannot be both in the accusative and comitative cases.

   tl;dr:

   本と雑誌を買いました = Along with books, I bought magazines.

   本も雑誌も買いました = I bought [both] books and magazines.

   However, in spoken and written language, and especially for Western speakers studying Japanese, both sentences seem pretty interchangeable.