372 The Loom of Language
Some are unchangeable, like what Others like this or that take endings
in agreement with the nouns they qualify or replace If so, the final vowel
is italicized to show that it is the masculine singular ending We then
have to choose from one of all four possible regular forms The tables
show which ones are irregular, and give appropriate forms in full
Corresponding to two singular demonstratives this and that of Anglo-
American, some British dialects have this, thai, and yon The three
grades of proximity in this series correspond roughly to the Latin sets
of which the masculine singular forms were hie, iste, ilk Two of them
went into partnership (cf this . here) with ecce (behold), which sur-
vives in the French cet (Latin ecce iste) and celle (ecce ilia)
Spanish and Portuguese preserve the threefold Latin Scots distinc-
tion- este, esta, estos, estas = this (the nearer one), ese, esa, esoe, esas
= that (the further), aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquettas = yon (remote
from both speaker and listener) All three sets can stand alone or with a
noun like our own corresponding pointer-words When they stand alone
(as pronouns) they carry an accent, e g esta golondnna y aquella (this
swallow and yonder one) All three, like the article lo (p 357) have
neuter forms, esto, esos aquello, for comparable usage The corresponding
threefold set of Portuguese demonstratives are este (-a, ~es, -as), &se
(-a, -es, -as), aquele (-a, ~e$, -as) Spaniards like the Germans, reverse
the order for the fanner . the latter — este (the nearer) . . aquel
(the further) The Italian order quello . questo is the same as ours
The distinction between the adjective and pronoun equivalents of
thts-these and that-those in French involves much more than an accent
on paper Where we use them as adjectives the French put ce or cet
(masc sing), cette (fern sing) or ces (plur) in fiont of the noun, and a
(here) or Id (there) behind it, as in
ce petit paquet-ct this little parcel ce petit paquet-ld that little parcel
cette bouteille-ci this bottle cette boutetlh-ld that bottle
ces pmres-ci these pears cei potres-ld those pears
In colloquial French the Id combination has practically superseded
the ci form, and serves in either situation.
To translate the adjective this-these (in contradistinction to Uiat-those)
we can use the simpler from ce, etc, without -ci9 eg ce journal (this
newspaper), cet ouvner (this workman), cette jeune fille (this young
woman), ces instruments
Where we would say here or there is (was or were), look there goes or
lo and behold, French people use the invariant pointers voict or voild
Historically they are agglutinations between the singular imperative of