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Can 、 join two complete sentences? In other words, can 、 replace 。?

I thought it could, but in this answer, user1205935 seems to suggest that it cannot. (Rather than ask about it in a comment, I decided to make a separate question about it.)

Here are a pair of examples:

  1. Aと言う。Bと言う。
  2. Aと言う、Bと言う。

Is example 2 ungrammatical?

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  • Related question about 読点 (doesn't address this question specifically)
    – user1478
    Commented May 4, 2013 at 13:24
  • 3
    My limited understanding is that 2 is ungrammatical, but used on the net and such (just as its common to have run-on sentences in English). The "grammatical" version of 2 would require a て-form or 中止形, AFAIK. Not confident about this at all (just something I've inferred) so I'm leaving it as a comment...
    – Darius Jahandarie
    Commented May 4, 2013 at 15:30
  • I found a source, and added it in my anwser. Tl;dr it should be grammatical.
    – Kokoroatari
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 1:43

2 Answers 2

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Based on a document from 文部省, it's not ungrammatical, and it's a pattern used only when the two parts of the sentence (before and after the 読点) have the same structure (like those in your example).

Examples:

父も喜んだ、母も喜んだ。
クリモキマシタ、ハチモキマシタ、ウスモキマシタ。

Here is the brief explanation it gives:

終止の形をとつてゐても、その文意が続く場合にはテンをうつ。

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Normally, I think there would need to be some sort of connecting form （て、し、り、など）before the comma on your example #2, as noted by Darius Jahandarie.

If you do need to combine sentences like in your example #2, you would probably want to find a way to clarify to the reader (or audience) what you are really wanting to say, as well.

For example, you might want to add some sort of noun or phrase after each という (or at least after the last という) so that the reader (or audience) knows what you are trying to say—otherwise, the example #2 sentence makes me wonder if you mean the A thing... or the B thing... (unless you explain how A and B relate—perhaps A and B are a respective series or are labels of something?)

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