Editing Demonstrative (section)

==Demonstrative series in other languages==
[[Latin]] had several sets of demonstratives, including ''hic'', ''haec'', ''hoc'' ("this near me"); ''iste'', ''ista'', ''istud'' ("that near you"); and ''ille'', ''illa'', ''illud'' ("that over there") – note that Latin has not only number, but also three [[grammatical gender]]s. The third set of Latin demonstratives (''ille'', etc.), developed into the [[definite article]]s in most [[Romance languages]], such as ''el'', ''la'', ''los'', ''las'' in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and ''le'', ''la'', ''les'' in [[French language|French]].

With the exception of [[Romanian language|Romanian]], and some varieties of Spanish and Portuguese, the neuter gender has been lost in the Romance languages. Spanish and Portuguese have kept neuter demonstratives:
:{|
!  Spanish{{quad}}     !! Portuguese{{quad}}  !! gender
|-
|  {{quad}}''este''    ||  {{quad}}''este''   || masculine
|-
|  {{quad}}''esta''    ||  {{quad}}''esta''   || feminine
|-
| 
|-
|  {{quad}}''esto'' ||  {{quad}}''isto'' || neuter
|}

Some forms of Spanish ([[Caribbean Spanish]], [[Andalusian Spanish]], etc.) also occasionally employ ''ello'', which is an archaic survival of the neuter pronoun from Latin ''illud''.{{Citation needed|reason=There seems to be no such word as ''elo'' in Formal Brazilian Portuguese|date=January 2014}}

Neuter demonstratives refer to ideas of indeterminate gender, such as abstractions and groups of heterogeneous objects, and has a limited agreement in Portuguese, for example, "all of that" can be translated as "todo aquele" (m), "toda aquela" (f) or "tudo aquilo" (n) in Portuguese, although the neuter forms require a masculine adjective agreement: "Tudo (n) aquilo (n) está quebrado (m)" (''All of that is broken'').

[[Classical Chinese]] had three main demonstrative pronouns: proximal {{lang|zh|{{linktext|此}}}} (this), distal {{lang|zh|{{linktext|彼}}}} (that), and distance-neutral {{lang|zh|{{linktext|是}}}} (this or that).<ref name="Pulleyblank">{{cite book|last=Pulleyblank|first=Edwin G.|author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank|title=Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar|publisher=UBC Press|year=1995|location=Vancouver|isbn=0-7748-0541-2}}</ref> The frequent use of {{lang|zh|是}} as a [[Resumptive pronoun|resumptive]] demonstrative pronoun that reasserted the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] before a noun [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] caused it to develop into its colloquial use as a [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] by the [[Han dynasty|Han period]] and subsequently its standard use as a copula in [[Modern Standard Chinese]].<ref name="Pulleyblank"/> Modern Mandarin has two main demonstratives, proximal {{lang|zh-Hant|{{linktext|這}}}}/{{lang|zh-Hans|这}} and distal {{lang|zh-Hani|{{linktext|那}}}}; its use of the three Classical demonstratives has become mostly [[idiom]]atic,<ref>{{cite book|last=Yip|first=Po-Ching|author2=Rimmington, Don|title=Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|location=London|isbn=0-415-15032-9}}</ref> although {{lang|zh|此}} continues to be used with some frequency in [[vernacular written Chinese|modern written Chinese]]. [[Cantonese]] uses proximal {{lang|yue-Hant|{{linktext|呢}}}} and distal {{lang|yue-Hant|{{linktext|嗰}}}} instead of {{lang|zh|這}} and {{lang|zh|那}}, respectively.

Similarly, [[Northern Wu]] languages tend to also have a distance-neutral demonstrative {{lang|wuu-Hant|{{linktext|搿}}}}, which is etymologically a checked-tone derivation of {{lang|wuu-Hant|{{linktext|個}}}}. In lects such as [[Shanghainese]], distance-based demonstratives exist, but are only used constrastively. [[Suzhou dialect|Suzhounese]], on the other hand, has several demonstratives that form a two-way contrast, but also have {{lang|wuu-Hant|搿}}, which is neutral.<ref>{{cite book|last=Qian|first=Nairong|title={{lang|zh-Hans|上海话大词典}}|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pan|first=Wuyun|title={{lang|zh-Hans|吴语指示（代）词}}}}</ref>

[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] has two spatial demonstratives: ''ez'' (this) and ''az'' (that). These inflect for number and case even in attributive position (attributes usually remain uninflected in Hungarian) with possible orthographic changes; e.g., ''ezzel'' (with this), ''abban'' (in that). A third degree of deixis is also possible in Hungarian, with the help of the ''am-'' prefix: ''amaz'' (that there). The use of this, however, is emphatic (when the speaker wishes to emphasize the distance) and not mandatory.

The [[Cree language]] has a special demonstrative for "things just gone out of sight," and [[Ilokano language|Ilocano]], a language of the [[Philippines]], has three words for ''this'' referring to a visible object, a fourth for things not in view and a fifth for things that no longer exist."<ref>{{harvtxt|Bryson|1990|page=64}}, citing {{cite book |last=Pell |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Pei |title=The Story of Language |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |date=1949}}</ref> The [[Tiriyó language]] has a demonstrative for "things audible but non-visible"<ref>{{cite web|title=A Grammar of Trio: A Cariban Language of Suriname |last=Carlin |first=Eithne B. |website=eithnecarlin.nl |url=https://www.eithnecarlin.nl/sites/www.eithnecarlin.nl/files/publications/2004-grammar-trio-cariban-language-suriname.pdf}}</ref>

While most languages and [[Language family|language families]] have demonstrative systems, some have systems highly divergent from or more complex than the relatively simple systems employed in [[Indo-European languages]]. In [[Yupik languages]], notably in the [[Chevak Cupꞌik dialect|Chevak Cup’ik]] language, there exists a 29-way distinction in demonstratives, with demonstrative indicators distinguished according to placement in a three-dimensional field around the interlocutor(s), as well as by visibility and whether or not the object is in motion.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Morphological Orthodoxy in Yupik-Inuit |date=February 2004 |last=Woodbury |first=Anthony C. |journal=Proceedings of the Berkeley Language Society 30: Special Session on the Morphology of Native American Languages |volume=30 |issue=2 |doi=10.3765/bls.v30i2.906 |issn=2377-1666 |pages=151–171|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=January 2023}}