Though the letter ñ (eñe) has become an emblem of the Spanish language, Professor Lola Pons Rodríguez with the University of Seville asserts that a more original badge would be the inverted question and exclamation marks which are also very recent, since they date from the late 1700s.

Pons Rodríguez, who specializes in the history of the Spanish language and heads several research projects about the language in the 1500s, points out that, while the ñ sound have been shared by several languages for a very long time, the inverted question and exclamation marks are relatively recent, and were successfully introduced by academics barely more than two centuries ago. With the goal that “the reader can ascertain in today’s language the legacy of the tongue of yore,” Pons Rodríguez has compiled «Cien historias curiosas sobre el español" (“A Hundred Curious Stories About the Spanish Language”) in her book «Una lengua muy larga» (“A Very Garrulous Tongue”) (Arpa Editores), whose book features a portrait of Miguel de Cervantes protecting his eyes with the trendiest sunglasses.

Read more here - ABC Cultura