What does it mean when と is attached to an adjective? For example, what's the difference between 意外と and 意外に？
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These に and と are adverbializers of adjectives. Both are special functions of Continuative/連用形 forms of 2 copulae (verbs "to be"), where n- copula is native Proto-Japonic, while t- copula was borrowed from Koreanic in pre-Old Japanese times, according to Alexander Vovin. Some adjectives have tendency to be used only with に, others with と, and others can be used with both. From historical point of view, there is no grammatical difference, but for some adjectives, interchanging に / と will sound unnatural. (Quotative と is supposedly unrelated to adverbializer と.) – Arfrever Oct 02 '23 at 21:09
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1And this topic was already discussed several times: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1903/, https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/83937/, https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2714/, https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3601/ – Arfrever Oct 02 '23 at 21:11
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Does this answer your question?
versus – Mindful Oct 04 '23 at 10:57+と versus +に