What does it mean when an exclamation point precedes a word, such as it does in ‘!Kung San’? Does it indicate a particular pronunciation??
Thanks.
In the case of !Kung San, this site has the explanation.
*The ! represents one of the click sounds, made like the English sound some speakers use to imitate the sound of dripping water. *
Different kinds of clicks are represented by different symbols:
From here
Other languages incorporate clicks, such as Xhosa and Zulu, may use letters to indicate them. For example, in Xhosa, the X indicates a click sound.
Also, a !preceding exclamation mark can be used to indicate the same sense of exclamation as one at the end of a sentence but only in relation to the word which it precedes.
That is, just one word is emphasised, not the whole sentence! This is an informal use.
You can do the same with question ?points when you wish to indicate a state of uncertainty about a word (e.g. spelling, usage) in a similar way as you might use [sic] in a quote.
Upside down exclamation and question marks are used in Spanish at the beginning of the question, followed by upside up marks at the end as the sentence is pronounced differently.
if a nerd writes it it means not kung
You can count me in with the nerds.