Upside-down question and exclamation marks: Difference between revisions

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The upside-down question mark {{char|¿}} is written before the first letter of an interrogative sentence or clause to indicate that a question follows. It is a rotated form of the standard symbol "?" recognized by speakers of other languages written with the [[Latin script]]. A regular question mark is written at the end of the sentence or clause.

Upside-down punctuation is especially criticalimportant in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] since the syntax of the language means that both statements and questions or exclamations could have the same wording.<ref name="Rosetta">{{cite web|last=Galavitz |first=Rowena |date=September 5, 2019 |title=What's Up With The Upside Down Question Mark? |url=https://blog.rosettastone.com/whats-up-with-the-upside-down-question-mark/ |website=[[Rosetta Stone Inc.]] |access-date=April 10, 2020 |quote=The upside-down question marks in Spanish are needed to let the reader know immediately that a question is involved.}}</ref> "Do you like summer?" and "You like summer." are translated respectively as {{lang|es|"¿Te gusta el verano?"|italic=yes}} and {{lang|es|"Te gusta el verano."|italic=yes}} (There is not always a difference between the wording of a [[yes–no question]] and the corresponding statement in Spanish.)

In sentences that are both declarative and interrogative, the clause that asks a question is isolated with the starting-symbol upside-down question mark, for example: {{lang|es|"Si no puedes ir con ellos, ¿quieres ir con nosotros?"|italic=yes}} ("If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?"), not *{{lang|es|"¿Si no puedes ir con ellos, quieres ir con nosotros?"|italic=yes}} This helps to recognize questions and exclamations in long sentences.

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These new rules were slow to be adopted: there are 19th-century books in which the printer uses neither "¡" nor "¿".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carrithers|first1=Michael|last2=Candea|first2=Matei|last3=Sykes|first3=Karen|last4=Holbraad|first4=Martin|last5=Venkatesan|first5=Soumya|date=May 28, 2010|title=Ontology is just another word for culture |url=https://archive.today/20250626220935/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308275X09364070|url-access=subscription|website=[[Critique of Anthropology]]|publisher=[[Sage Journals]]|archive-url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x09364070|archive-date=June 26, 2025 |access-date=June 26, 2025}}</ref>

Outside of the Spanish-speaking world, [[John Wilkins]] proposed using the upside-down exclamation mark "¡" as a symbol at the end of a sentence to [[irony punctuation|denote irony]] in 1668. He was one of many, including [[Desiderius Erasmus]], who felt there was a need for such a punctuation mark, but Wilkins' proposal, like the other attempts, failed to take hold.<ref name="Houston2013">{{cite book|first=Keith|last=Houston|title=Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3R2SAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 214] |date=September 24, 2013|publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-393-24154-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Popova|first=Maria|title=Ironic Serif: A Brief History of Typographic Snark and the Failed Crusade for an Irony Mark |url=http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/27/shady-characters-irony/|work=[[Brain Pickings]]|date=September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

==Adoption==

Some writers omit the upside-down question mark in the case of a short unambiguous question such as: {{lang|es|"Quién viene?"|italic=yes}} ("Who comes?"). This is the criterion in [[Galician language|Galician]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Normas ortográficas e morfolóxicas do idioma galego |trans-title=Orthographic rules and morphology of the Galician language |publisher=[[Royal Galician Academy|Real Academia Galega]] |isbn=978-84-87987-78-6 |page=27 |edition=23ª |chapter-url=https://www.lingua.gal/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=1647069&name=DLFE-10938.pdff |access-date=December 25, 2021 |language=gl |chapter=7. Os signos de interrogación e de admiración |year=2012 |quote=Para facilitar a lectura e evitar ambigüidades pode-rase indicar o inicio destas entoacións cos signos ¿ e ¡, respectivamente. }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://portaldaspalabras.gal/video/posicion-signo-de-interrogacion-e-exclamacion/ |title=A posición do signo de interrogación (?) e exclamación (!) |trans-title= The position of the question mark (?) and exclamation mark (!) |date=October 21, 2017 |website=Portal das Palabras |access-date=December 25, 2021}}</ref> and formerly in [[Catalan language|Catalan]].<ref>{{citation |chapter=Els signes d'interrogació i d'admiració (Acord de l'11 de juny de 1993) |title=Documents de la Secció Filològica |trans-title=The signs of questioning and admiration |volume=III |year=1996 |author=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |pages=92–94 |chapter-url=http://www.iecat.net/institucio/seccions/Filologica/llenguacatalana/documentsnormatius/docsf2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906173859/http://www.iecat.net/institucio/seccions/Filologica/llenguacatalana/documentsnormatius/docsf2.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |access-date=May 7, 2012}}</ref> Certain Catalan-language authorities, such as [[Joan Solà i Cortassa]], insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity.<ref name="Houston2013" /> The current [[Institute for Catalan Studies]] prescription is never to use the upside-down marks for Catalan.<ref>{{citation |chapter=Els signes d'entonació inicials |title=Manual d'estil. La redacció i l'edició de textes. |trans-title=Manual of style. Writing and editing texts. |author=Josep M. Mestres |author2=Joan Coste |author3=Mireira Oliva |author4=Ricard Fité |edition=4 |date=2009 |pages=197–200 |access-date=March 5, 2022 |chapter-url=https://estil.llocs.iec.cat/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/02/07_Pag_167-278_p-4.pdf |publisher=[[Institut d'Estudis Catalans]] }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Some Spanish-language writers, among them Nobel laureate [[Pablo Neruda]] (1904–1973), refuse to use the upside-down question mark.<ref>{{cite web |last=Neruda |first=Pablo |date=June 2008 |title=''Antología Fundamental'' |trans-title=''Fundamental Anthology'' |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425154155/http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |archive-url=http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |access-date=November 10, 2011}}&nbsp;{{small|(556&nbsp;KB)}} {{ISBN|978-956-16-0169-7}}. p. 7 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Upside-down marks are often omitted when [[texting]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}

==Mixtures== <!-- Courtesy note per [{WP:RSECT]]: [[Interrobang#Inverted interrobang]] links here. -->

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==Computer usage==

[[File:KB Spanish.svg|thumb|420px|The [[Languages of Spain|Spanish]] keyboard provides the symbols 'as standard' (top row, right).]]

===Encodings===

{{char|¡}} and {{char|¿}} are in the [[Latin-1 Supplement (Unicode block)| "Latin-1 Supplement" Unicode block]], which is inherited from [[ISO-8859-1]]:

* {{unichar|00A1|inverted exclamation mark}}

* {{unichar|00BF|inverted question mark}}

===Typing the character===

[[File:Left side of modern US-International keyboard.JPG|thumb|upright 1.25|The {{char|¡}} character is accessible using [[AltGr]]+1 on a modern [[US-International]] keyboard. It is also available using a conventional US keyboard by switching to the US-International [[keyboard layout]].]]

{{char|¿}} and {{char|¡}} are available in all [[keyboard layout]]s designed for Spanish-speaking countries. Smartphones typically offer these if {{keypress|?}} or {{keypress|!}} is held down in the on-screen keyboard. Auto-correct will often turn a normal mark typed at the start of a sentence to the upside-down one.

On systems with an [[AltGr]] key (actual or emulated via [[right Alt key]]) and Extended (or 'International') [[keyboard mapping]] set, the symbols can be accessed directly, though the sequence varies by OS and locality and is documented by the vendor. Otherwise see [[Unicode input]].

==See also==

* [[Spanish orthography]]

* {{anli|Unicode input}}

==References==