Upside-down question and exclamation marks: Difference between revisions

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{{unichar|00A1|Inverted exclamation mark}}
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The '''upside-down''' (also '''inverted''', '''turned''' or '''rotated''') '''question mark''' {{char|¿}} and '''exclamation mark''' {{char|¡}} are [[punctuation]] marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences or clauses in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and some languages that have cultural ties with Spain, such as [[Asturian language|Asturian]] and [[Waray language|Waray]].<ref>{{cite book|last=De Veyra|first=Vicente I.|title=Kandabao: Essays on Waray language, literature, and culture|date=1982|chapter=Ortograpiya han Binisaya}}</ref> The initial marks are mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the ordinary [[question mark]], {{char|?}}, or [[exclamation mark]], {{char|!}}.
 
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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://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x09364070|url-access=subscription |website=[[Critique of Anthropology]]|publisher=[[Sage Journals]] |archive-url=https://archive.ph/tpas4|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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3R2SAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|date=September 24, 2013|publisher=[[W. W. Norton]]|access-date=September 1, 2014|isbn=978-0-393-24154-9
|page=214}}</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 |access-date=September 1, 2014}}</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=25 December 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=21 October 2017 |website=Portal das Palabras |access-date=25 December 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 |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=2011-09-06 |author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans }}</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. |author=Josep M. Mestres |author2=Joan Coste |author3=Mireira Oliva |author4=Ricard Fité |edition=4 |year=2009 |pages=197–200 |chapter-url=https://estil.llocs.iec.cat/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/02/07_Pag_167-278_p-4.pdf|author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans }}</ref>
| 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 = 21 October 2017 | website =Portal das Palabras | access-date = 25 December 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 |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=2011-09-06 |author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans }}</ref> Certain Catalan-language authorities, such as [[Joan Solà i Cortassa]], insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} 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. |author=Josep M. Mestres |author2=Joan Coste |author3=Mireira Oliva |author4=Ricard Fité |edition=4 |year=2009 |pages=197–200 |chapter-url=https://estil.llocs.iec.cat/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/02/07_Pag_167-278_p-4.pdf|author-link=Institut d'Estudis Catalans }}</ref>
 
Some Spanish-language writers, among them Nobel laureate [[Pablo Neruda]] (1904–1973), refuse to use the upside-down question mark.<ref>Pablo Neruda, {{cite web |title=''Antología Fundamental'' |url= http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |title= ''Antología Fundamental'' |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120425154155/http://www.pehuen.cl/docman/neruda/antlogia-fundamental/download.html |archive-date=April 25, 2012-04-25 }}&nbsp;{{small|(556&nbsp;KB)}}, (June 2008). {{ISBN|978-956-16-0169-7}}. p. 7 {{in lang|es}}</ref>
 
== Mixtures == <!-- Courtesy note per [{WP:RSECT]]: [[Interrobang#Inverted interrobang]] links here. -->
It is acceptable in Spanish to begin a sentence with an opening upside-down [[exclamation mark]] ("¡") and end it with a question mark ("?"), or vice versa, for statements that are questions but also have a clear sense of exclamation or surprise such as: {{lang|es|¡Y tú quién te crees?}} ("And who do you think you are?!"). Normally, four signs are used, always with one type in the outer side and the other in the inner side (nested) (''{{lang|es|¿¡Y tú quién te crees!?}}'', ''{{lang|es|¡¿Y tú quién te crees?!}}'')<ref>[[Real{{cite Academia Españolaweb|RAE]]'sdate=2014|title=Diccionario [de la lengua española|url=http://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=Ivs8zvWdED6bQUncsG%7CbH8aKhoE1D6eF5Wp4C|work=[[Real Academia Española|RAE]]|access-date=May 31, 2018}} {{in lang|es}}</ref>)
 
[[Unicode#Versions|Unicode 5.1]] also includes {{unichar|2E18|INVERTED INTERROBANG}}, which is an [[Interrobang#Inverted interrobang|upside-down version of the interrobang]], a nonstandard punctuation mark used to denote both excitement and a question in one glyph. It is also known as a "gnaborretni"{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} ({{IPAc-en|ŋ|ˌ|n|ɑː|b|ɔːr|ˈ|ɛ|t|.|n|i}}) ([[interrobang]] spelled backwards).
}}) ([[interrobang]] spelled backwards).
 
==Computer usage==
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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]]