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==Typological variants of ''?''== The rhetorical question mark or percontation point (see [[Irony punctuation]]) was invented by [[Henry Denham]] in the 1580s and was used at the end of a [[rhetorical question]];{{sfn|Truss|2003|page=142}} however, it became obsolete in the 17th century. It was the reverse of an ordinary question mark, so that instead of the main opening pointing back into the sentence, it opened away from it.{{sfn|Truss|2003|page=142}} This character can be represented using {{unichar|2E2E|nlink=Irony punctuation#Irony mark}}. Bracketed question marks can be used for rhetorical questions, for example {{char|Oh, really(?)}}, in informal contexts such as [[closed captioning]]. The question mark can also be used as a [[Meta (prefix)|meta]]-sign to signal uncertainty regarding what precedes it. It is usually put between brackets: {{char|(?)}}. The uncertainty may concern either a superficial level (such as unsure spelling), or a deeper [[Truth-conditional semantics|truth]] (real [[Meaning (philosophy of language)|meaning]]). In typography, some other variants and combinations are available: "β," "β," and "β," are usually used for [[chess annotation symbols]]; the [[interrobang]], "β½," is used to combine the functions of the question mark<ref name="A course of reading for common schools and the lower classes of academies">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4t4NAQAAMAAJ&q=%22interrogative+point%22&pg=PA44 |title=A Course of Reading for Common Schools and the Lower Classes of Academies |date=1851 |access-date=November 22, 2013 |last=Mandeville |first=Henry}}</ref> and the [[exclamation mark]], superposing these two marks. Unicode makes available these variants: * {{unichar|2047|Double Question Mark|html=}} * {{unichar|2048|Question Exclamation Mark|html=}} * {{unichar|2049|Exclamation Question Mark|html=}} ** {{Emoji presentation|β}} with an [[emoji variation selector]] * {{unichar|203D|Interrobang|nlink=Interrobang|html=}} * {{unichar|2E18|Inverted Interrobang|nlink=Inverted_question_and_exclamation_marks|html=}} * {{unichar|2E2E|Reversed Question Mark|nlink=Irony_punctuation|html=}} * {{unichar|061F|Arabic Question Mark|html=}} * {{unichar|FE56|Small Question Mark|html=}} * {{unichar|00BF|Inverted Question Mark|nlink=Inverted_question_and_exclamation_marks|html=}} * {{unichar|2753|Black Question Mark Ornament}} * {{unichar|2754|White Question Mark Ornament}} * {{unichar|1f679|heavy interrobang ornament}} * {{unichar|1f67A|sans-serif interrobang ornament}} * {{unichar|1f67b|heavy sans-serif interrobang ornament}}
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