<\/p>\n
Spanish is the only language in the world which puts an \u2018upside down\u2019 exclamation mark (\u00a1) or question mark (\u00bf) at the start of a sentence. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9? (why?), we ask.<\/p>\n
Most historians agree that exclamation marks were first used in Latin manuscripts and that the question mark was introduced by the Carolingians, a French dynasty that dominated Western Europe between the 8th and 10th centuries.<\/p>\n
In both cases, these symbols used to either emphasise or ask were included only at the end of sentences<\/p>\n
So why is it that in written Spanish, a question or exclamation mark is added at the start of the sentence as well as at the end?<\/p>\n
The first official reference of this linguistic idiosyncrasy was in the second edition of the Spanish Royal Academy\u2019s book of spelling and grammar, published in 1754.<\/p>\n
Spanish academics concluded that having a question mark at the end of a sentence wasn\u2019t enough \u2013 especially when it came to long sentences \u2013 and that a \u00bf should be added at the very start as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are periods or long clauses in which the question mark placed at the end is not enough and it is necessary from the beginning to indicate the meaning and interrogative tone with which it should be read,\u201d reads the minutes of the meeting held in 1753 about why the \u201cnovelty\u201d of a question mark was \u201cconvenient\u201d in Spanish.<\/p>\n
Initially this rule of adding an inverted question mark was only applicable to long sentences, but over the years linguists realised that it was often difficult to determine when a sentence should be considered short or long, and that people ended up interpreting the rule at will.<\/p>\n
So in 1870, Spain\u2019s Royal Academy ruled that initial signos de interrogaci\u00f3n should be added to all applicable cases, regardless of the length of sentences.<\/p>\n
The exclamation point, which was included in the Spanish grammar books later on in the 18th century, was officially considered to be a two-symbol rule in 1884.<\/p>\n
In fact, it was only in 2014 when it officially stopped being referred to as a signo de admiraci\u00f3n (admiration point) and became known as signo de exclamaci\u00f3n (exclamation point).<\/p>\n
Nowadays, Spain\u2019s Royal Academy \u2013 known as la RAE \u2013 is clear that the correct punctuation in Spanish should always be an exclamation or question mark at the start of a sentence if there is one at the end, and that mimicking what happens in other languages such as English where it only goes at the end is incorrect.<\/p>\n
That applies regardless of whether the question or exclamation stands on its own \u2013 \u00a1Adi\u00f3s! (Bye!) or \u00bfC\u00f3mo te llamas? (What\u2019s your name?), or they\u2019re a period within a sentence, such as Me acabo de despertar, \u00bfqu\u00e9 hora es? (I\u2019ve just woken up, what time is it?).<\/p>\n
Could it be that the often flowery and long-winded nature of written Spanish contributed to this orthographic uniqueness? We certainly think so!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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