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Romance Languages and Double Punctuation | ||
Tags: Punctuation | Romance Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Elwing Tetraglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5512 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes  Speaks: Swedish, Finnish*, English, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 9 of 15 27 October 2009 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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With those double exclamation marks, I've always wondered how do you distinguish between an i and an upside down ! in writing. Could someone explain this? Edited by Elwing on 27 October 2009 at 10:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5571 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 11 of 15 28 October 2009 at 3:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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In writing, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure it out based on context. The upside-down exclamation mark will usually appear at the beginning of a sentence, unlike a lowercase I, and will be followed by a capital letter. And of course there will be a regular exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.
It's easier than telling capital I from lowercase L from the number one. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5926 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 12 of 15 24 December 2009 at 4:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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Although I forget to use it in writing, I love the upside down punctuation of Spanish. It's one of the few things that I like about it. !Take that, English! I think the double-punctuation gives you more accuracy when writing... you can indicate when it is that the surprise/question starts.
!I am so excited! (and apparently too lazy to use the proper forms) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JacobTM Groupie United States Joined 5602 days ago 56 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 15 04 January 2010 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think the double question marks are really useful for sentences where the actual question comes up later in the sentence.
For example: Ya sabemos todos que la luna no está hecha de queso, ¿pero de que está hecho? In English that would be: We all know that the moon isn't made of cheese, but what is it made of? However, I've had professors tell me that sentences shouldn't end in question marks if the question is in a subordinate clause, which would mean you'd have to construct the awkward: We all know that the moon isn't made of cheese. But what is it made of? And then you'll have a professor saying you can't start a sentence with "but", and it all gets more complicated than it's worth. The ¿? lets you nicely divide that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| JacobTM Groupie United States Joined 5602 days ago 56 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 15 04 January 2010 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Lots of teenagers like to write using the upside-down exclamation mark as an i, along with lots of other silly things that teenagers on the internet do. In fact, they sometimes just use a regular ! in place of an "i". Te K¡er0 MuChoOOO, bEs!TOs!!!! Edited by patuco on 21 August 2010 at 11:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| marmite Triglot Newbie Portugal Joined 5217 days ago 35 posts - 57 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, French | Message 15 of 15 20 August 2010 at 3:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, it's exactly this! As a kid this was the explanation I was always given and I find that it is true, reading out loud in Spanish is much easier when it comes to making the correct intonation without having to skip ahead and check for punctuation. I'm not a native speaker, but I'd say I'm at an advanced level and I don't find them disruptive at all. I don't write much in Spanish, but when I do, I like them -- they make mind my phrasing of questions more and if I change the wording of a statement into a question I can always go back and add them.
It's a matter of context. Unless you're reading a text by someone who always writes in lowercase letters, you can distinguish them because the upside down ! comes in the beginning of sentences, and in such a situation an i would be a capital. Edited by marmite on 20 August 2010 at 3:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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