Timeline for Origin and usage of "¿" and "¡"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
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| May 10, 2023 at 16:55 | comment | added | Honza Zidek | @aerobiomat It is biased by (probably) grew up with the language which does need the inverted question marks, and feels like the sentences would not be understandable. My case was that in other languages, which - like Spanish - can also create questions without inverting word order, and we live without the inverted question marks. The sample sentences which "need the ¿ fix" rather need another fix: reformulating, splitting into shorted pieces etc. The ¿ doesn't actually fix the comprehensiveness of the sentences. | |
| May 10, 2023 at 9:38 | comment | added | aerobiomat | @HonzaZidek I understand that opening signs are not necessary in Slavic languages. But that doesn't apply to Spanish where confusion may indeed exist. For example, "Tengo que pasarme el día entero revisando todos los relojes cada vez que cambia la hora oficial" and "¿Tengo que pasarme el día entero revisando todos los relojes cada vez que cambia la hora oficial?" are both valid. No changes are needed in spoken language thanks to the different intonation and no changes are needed in written language thanks to the opening sign. So I can't see why you say Glorfindel's explanation is biased. | |
| May 9, 2023 at 14:00 | comment | added | Honza Zidek | @aerobiomat Very easily :) If the sentence is long, the intonation change does not concern the whole sentence, but only a small last part of it. If it is the type of question where the intonation must be changed already at the beginning, this question start with a question word, such as "how many", "where" etc. N.B. The question mark at the end is completely sufficient, nobody is confused. (And BTW the question intonation significantly differs between the Slavic languages, but this is another topic.) | |
| May 8, 2023 at 11:09 | comment | added | aerobiomat | @HonzaZidek Pehaps you can explain how a Slavic-language speaker decides which intonation to use while reading aloud a long sentence that happens to be a question. | |
| Apr 27, 2023 at 17:31 | history | edited | Glorfindel♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 15, 2021 at 21:10 | comment | added | Honza Zidek | Hmm, in Slavic languages you can also make a question from a sentence just by intonation, and nobody is confused. Your explanation is biased. | |
| Jun 17, 2020 at 9:53 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| May 1, 2016 at 1:53 | comment | added | JMVanPelt | Añado a lo dicho el enlace a la página correspondiente de la citada Ortografía de 1754, en particular al punto 22. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 14:51 | history | edited | Jose Luis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 7, 2015 at 7:14 | history | edited | Jose Luis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 12, 2014 at 21:45 | comment | added | user0721090601 | Great answer. You may want to add in that the mark was originally intended for disambiguating, but then later on people used them so much that it because standard even when there existed no ambiguity. | |
| Jan 30, 2013 at 17:45 | history | edited | Flimzy | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 3, 2012 at 14:45 | comment | added | Savir | Awesome answer, indeed!! With sources and all!! :) I'm Spaniard and I didn't know all this! | |
| Feb 7, 2012 at 19:08 | comment | added | Jose Luis | @pferor Hmm I had never seen that mark. Do you have a reference? | |
| Feb 7, 2012 at 19:01 | comment | added | pferor | Concerning irony, the irony mark (؟) is also valid: Tendría mucha gracia que llegara a la cita con un día de retraso؟. | |
| S Nov 29, 2011 at 17:54 | history | suggested | dusan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Formatting
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| Nov 26, 2011 at 21:47 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Nov 29, 2011 at 17:54 | |||||
| Nov 16, 2011 at 13:05 | comment | added | Jose Luis | My pleasure! :-) | |
| Nov 16, 2011 at 11:22 | vote | accept | dusan | ||
| Nov 16, 2011 at 10:18 | history | edited | Jose Luis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2011 at 10:00 | history | edited | Jose Luis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2011 at 10:00 | comment | added | hippietrail | Aha now this is a great answer! It covers both origins and usage, ties them together, and provides dates and references for them! | |
| Nov 16, 2011 at 9:50 | history | answered | Jose Luis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |