View source for Upside-down question and exclamation marks

{{short description|Punctuation marks (¿ and ¡)}}
{{redirect-distinguish|¡|Temherte slaq|Sublingual consonant|i|İ}}{{Redirect|¿|"?"|Question mark|"!"|Exclamation mark}}{{expert needed|linguistics|reason=far too much information is missing or lacks good sources; requesting attention from knowledgeable Wikipedians|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox punctuation mark|mark=¿&nbsp;¡
|name=Upside-down question mark<br />Upside-down exclamation mark
|unicode= {{unichar|00BF|Inverted question mark}}<br />
{{unichar|00A1|Inverted exclamation mark}}
}}

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|!}}.

Upside-down marks are supported by various standards, including [[ISO/IEC 8859-1|ISO-8859-1]], [[Unicode]], and [[SGML entity|HTML]]. They can be entered directly on keyboards designed for Spanish-speaking countries.

==Usage==
{{Main|Spanish orthography}}
[[File:Signosdepuntuación html y binario.pdf|thumb|Punctuation marks in Spanish, showing their positions relative to the [[baseline (typography)|baseline]]]]

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 critical 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|url =https://blog.rosettastone.com/whats-up-with-the-upside-down-question-mark/ | title= What's Up With The Upside Down Question Mark? | website=[[Rosetta Stone Inc.]] | date= September 5, 2019 | access-date = 31 May 2020 }}</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.

Unlike the ending marks, which are printed along the [[Baseline (typography)|baseline]] of the text, the upside-down marks (¿ and ¡) [[Descender|descend below the line]].

== History ==

Upside-down marks, simple in the era of hand typesetting, were originally recommended by the {{Lang|es|[[Royal Spanish Academy|Real Academia Española]]}} (Royal Spanish Academy), in the second edition of the {{lang|es|Ortografía de la lengua castellana}} (Orthography of the Castilian language) in 1754<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rae.es/sites/default/files/Tabla_ediciones_Ortografia.pdf|title=Ediciones de la Ortografía Académica|trans-title=Editions of the Academic Orthography|publisher=Real Academia Española |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617020907/https://www.rae.es/sites/default/files/Tabla_ediciones_Ortografia.pdf |archive-date= Jun 17, 2023 }}</ref> recommending it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish—e.g. {{lang|es|"¿Cuántos años tienes?"|italic=yes}} ("How old are you?"; {{lit|How many years do you have?|}}). 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 "¿".{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

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=24 September 2013|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-24154-9|page=214}}</ref><ref name="irony mark">{{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=27 September 2013 |access-date=1 Sep 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.{{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 |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= 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 Academia Española|RAE]]'s [http://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=Ivs8zvWdED6bQUncsG%7CbH8aKhoE1D6eF5Wp4C] {{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).

==Computer usage==
===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]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{navbox punctuation}}

[[Category:Spanish language]]
[[Category:Punctuation]]
[[Category:Interrogative words and phrases]]
[[Category:Catalan language]]