There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One is that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.
Another theory is that it derives from , an abbreviation of Latin quaestio(“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.[1]
There are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.
Character #1: "I have no time to explain! Have you seen a Big Bad Wolf blowing down various houses?"
Character #2: "?"
(linguistics)Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason.
2006, Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed, Bert Cappelle, “The Grammar of the English Verb Phrase”, in The Grammar of the English Tense System, volume 1 (in English), →ISBN, page 6:
A superscript question mark will be used similarly to indicate that a sentence or constituent is questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason. A double superscript question mark indicates an even higher degree of questionability. I have never { worked / ?been working } on a dissertation This time tomorrow I { will / ??am going to } be driving to London.
2009, Terry Stickels, Math Puzzles and Brainteasers, Grades 3-5: Over 300 Puzzles that Teach Math and Problem-Solving Skills (in English), John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 6:
What is the next number in the sequence below? 1 4 9 16 25 36 ?
As SMS messaging and other forms of electronic communication have become more common, some Spanish-speakers use only ? for questions and ! for exclamations, leaving out the initial typographical mark. This is considered non-standard usage.
