Upside-down question and exclamation marks

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Template:Short description Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Hatnote list' not found. Template:Infobox punctuation mark The upside-down (also inverted, turned or rotated) question mark Template:Char and exclamation mark Template:Char are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences or clauses in Spanish and some languages that have cultural ties with Spain, such as Asturian and Waray.[1] The initial marks are mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the ordinary question mark Template:Char or exclamation mark Template:Char.

Upside-down marks are supported by various standards, including Unicode and HTML. They can be entered directly on keyboards designed for Spanish-speaking countries.

Usage

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Punctuation marks in Spanish, showing their positions relative to the baseline

The upside-down question mark Template: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 Template:Char 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 important in Spanish since the syntax of the language means that both statements and questions or exclamations could have the same wording.[2] "Do you like summer?" and "You like summer." are translated respectively as Script error: No such module "Lang". and Script error: No such module "Lang". (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: Script error: No such module "Lang". ("If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?"), not *Script error: No such module "Lang". This helps to recognize questions and exclamations in long sentences.

Unlike the ending marks, which are printed along the baseline of the text, the upside-down marks (¿ and ¡) normally descend below the line, though they are printed along the baseline in all-cap text.

The upside-down exclamation mark is a phonetic symbol in the Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet.

History

Upside-down marks, simple in the era of hand typesetting, were originally recommended by the Script error: No such module "Lang". (Royal Spanish Academy), in the second edition of the Script error: No such module "Lang". (Orthography of the Castilian language) in 1754[3] recommending it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish—e.g. Script error: No such module "Lang". ("How old are you?"; Template:Lit). The Real Academia also ordered the same upside-down-symbol system for statements of exclamation, using the symbols "¡" and "!".

These new rules were slow to be adopted: there are 19th-century books in which the printer uses neither "¡" nor "¿".[4]

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 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.[5][6]

Adoption

Some writers omit the upside-down question mark in the case of a short unambiguous question such as: Script error: No such module "Lang". ("Who comes?"). This is the criterion in Galician[7][8] and formerly in Catalan.[9] Certain Catalan-language authorities, such as Joan Solà i Cortassa, insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity.[5] The current Institute for Catalan Studies prescription is never to use the upside-down marks for Catalan.[10] However, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua allows optional use of the upside-down marks.[11]

Some Spanish-language writers, among them Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), refuse to use the upside-down question mark.[12]

Upside-down marks are often omitted in informal writing, such as in texting.[13]

Mixtures

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: Script error: No such module "Lang". ("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) (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang".)[14]

Unicode 5.1 also includes Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.U+2E18 ⸘ Script error: No such module "Unicode data"., which is an 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" (/ŋˌnɑːbɔːrˈɛt.ni/) (interrobang spelled backwards).

Computer usage

The Spanish keyboard provides the symbols 'as standard' (top row, right).

Encodings

Template:Char and Template:Char are in the "Latin-1 Supplement" Unicode block, which is inherited from ISO-8859-1:

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Luangco, Gregorio C. (1982). "Ortograpiya han Binisaya". Kandabao: Essays on Waray language, literature, and culture. Divine Word University.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Galavitz, Rowena (September 5, 2019). "What's Up With The Upside Down Question Mark?". Rosetta Stone Inc. Retrieved April 10, 2020. The upside-down question marks in Spanish are needed to let the reader know immediately that a question is involved.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ediciones de la Ortografía Académica" [Editions of the Academic Orthography] (PDF) (in Spanish). Real Academia Española. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Carrithers, Michael; Candea, Matei; Sykes, Karen; Holbraad, Martin; Venkatesan, Soumya (May 28, 2010). "Ontology is just another word for culture". Critique of Anthropology. Sage Journals. Retrieved June 26, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) Alt URL
  5. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Houston, Keith (September 24, 2013). Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks. W. W. Norton. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-393-24154-9.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Popova, Maria (September 27, 2013). "Ironic Serif: A Brief History of Typographic Snark and the Failed Crusade for an Irony Mark". Brain Pickings. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."7. Os signos de interrogación e de admiración" (PDF). Normas ortográficas e morfolóxicas do idioma galego [Orthographic rules and morphology of the Galician language] (in galego) (23ª ed.). Real Academia Galega. 2012. p. 27. ISBN 978-84-87987-78-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 15, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2021. Para facilitar a lectura e evitar ambigüidades pode-rase indicar o inicio destas entoacións cos signos ¿ e ¡, respectivamente.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."A posición do signo de interrogación (?) e exclamación (!)" [The position of the question mark (?) and exclamation mark (!)]. Portal das Palabras. October 21, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2021.Template:In lang
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Institut d'Estudis Catalans (1996), "Els signes d'interrogació i d'admiració (Acord de l'11 de juny de 1993)", Documents de la Secció Filològica [The signs of questioning and admiration] (in Catalan), vol. III, pp. 92–94, archived from the original on September 6, 2011, retrieved May 7, 2012{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Josep M. Mestres; Joan Coste; Mireira Oliva; Ricard Fité (2009), "Els signes d'entonació inicials" (PDF), Manual d'estil. La redacció i l'edició de textes. [Manual of style. Writing and editing texts.] (in Catalan) (4 ed.), Institut d'Estudis Catalans, pp. 197–200, archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2020, retrieved March 5, 2022{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Gramàtica normativa valenciana" [Valencian Normative Grammar] (PDF). Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (in Valencian). September 2006. pp. 70–71. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 3, 2025. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Neruda, Pablo (June 2008). "Antología Fundamental" [Fundamental Anthology]. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2011. Alt URL (556 KB) Template:ISBN. p. 7 Template:In lang
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Monroy, Marco (November 27, 2023). "How to use upside down question marks in Spanish: A top guide". Berlitz Corporation. Archived from the original on December 26, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Diccionario prehispánico de dudas". RAE. 2025. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2025. Template:In lang

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