Array declaration and initialization in Java. Arrays behave differently, when the position of their subscript indices is changed in their declaration

Look at JLS on Arrays:

The [] may appear as part of the type at the beginning of the declaration, or as part of the declarator for a particular variable, or both.

and

Brackets are allowed in declarators as a nod to the tradition of C and C++. The general rules for variable declaration, however, permit brackets to appear on both the type and in declarators, so that the local variable declaration:

float[][] f[][], g[][][], h[];  // Yechh!

is equivalent to the series of declarations:

float[][][][] f;
float[][][][][] g;
float[][][] h;

So for example:

int []p, q[];

is just

int[] p, q[]

which is in fact

int p[]; int q[][]

The rest are all similar.