Is there a difference between この小さな街で and 小さなこの街で?


I noticed in songs, there are lyric lines that push the demonstrative
adjective (*) この, その etc to the middle of sentences by switching it with an
adjective/verb that describe the subsequent nouns. For example:

> この小さな 街{まち}で becomes 小さなこの街で
>
> あの 戻{もど}れない日々 becomes 戻れないあの日々

Is there any difference between the two sentence structures? Or is it just to
make the latter sound more poetic?

(*) Thanks repecmps for providing the correct English term there




At the risk of going slightly off-topic, I'm going to agree 100% with Kentaro
and say that putting the demonstrative determiner (learned a new term today!)
in the middle sounds more literary. But there are cases where you can (and
indeed must) use this "literary" form in everyday Japanese to avoid ambiguity.
Take the following examples:

> 絵を描いたあの子供 (えをかいたあのこども) - **That** child who drew the picture.
>
> あの絵を描いた子供 (あのえをかいたこども) - The child who drew **that** picture.

So when the relative clause (小さな and 戻れない in your examples) begins with
something that the demonstrative determiner could modify (like a noun), you
have to choose where you put the demonstrative determiner based on what you
want to convey.




At the risk of going slightly off-topic, I'm going to agree 100% with Kentaro
and say that putting the demonstrative determiner (learned a new term today!)
in the middle sounds more literary. But there are cases where you can (and
indeed must) use this "literary" form in everyday Japanese to avoid ambiguity.
Take the following examples:

> 絵を描いたあの子供 (えをかいたあのこども) - **That** child who drew the picture.
>
> あの絵を描いた子供 (あのえをかいたこども) - The child who drew **that** picture.

So when the relative clause (小さな and 戻れない in your examples) begins with
something that the demonstrative determiner could modify (like a noun), you
have to choose where you put the demonstrative determiner based on what you
want to convey.

