Editing Spanish language (section)

== Writing system ==
{{Main|Spanish orthography}}
{{Spanish language}}
Spanish is written in the [[Latin script]], with the addition of the character {{angle bracket|[[ñ]]}} ({{lang|es|eñe}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/[[Palatal nasal|ɲ]]/}}, a letter distinct from {{angle bracket|n}}, although typographically composed of an {{angle bracket|n}} with a [[tilde]]). Formerly the [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] {{angle bracket|ch}} ({{lang|es|che}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}) and {{angle bracket|ll}} ({{lang|es|elle}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/[[Palatal lateral approximant|ʎ]]/}} or {{IPA|/ʝ/}}), were also considered single letters. However, the digraph {{angle bracket|rr}} ({{lang|es|erre fuerte}}, 'strong r', {{lang|es|erre doble}}, 'double r', or simply {{lang|es|erre}}), which also represents a distinct phoneme {{IPA|/r/}}, was not similarly regarded as a single letter. Since 1994 {{angle bracket|ch}} and {{angle bracket|ll}} have been treated as letter pairs for [[collation]] purposes, though they remained a part of the alphabet until 2010. Words with {{angle bracket|ch}} are now alphabetically sorted between those with {{angle bracket|cg}} and {{angle bracket|ci}}, instead of following {{angle bracket|cz}} as they used to. The situation is similar for {{angle bracket|ll}}.<ref>[http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=ch Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416180544/http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=ch |date=16 April 2008}}, 1st ed.</ref><ref>[http://www.rae.es/ Real Academia Española] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011012019/http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_HTML=2&LEMA=cedilla |date=11 October 2017}}, [http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishalphabet.html Explanation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906105503/https://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishalphabet.html |date=6 September 2007}} at [http://www.spanishpronto.com/ Spanish Pronto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914002335/https://www.spanishpronto.com/ |date=14 September 2007}} {{in lang|es|en}}</ref>

Thus, the Spanish alphabet has the following 27 letters:

:{{lang|es|A, B, C,<!-- ch considered digraph - see next references. --> D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L,<!-- ll considered digraph - see next references. --> M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, <!-- but not rr See previous paragraph. --> S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.}}

Since 2010, none of the digraphs ({{lang|es|ch, ll, rr, gu, qu}}) are considered letters by the Royal Spanish Academy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rae.es/consultas/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario|title=Exclusión de ch y ll del abecedario &#124; Real Academia Española|website=www.rae.es|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428205219/https://www.rae.es/consultas/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario|archive-date=28 April 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

The letters {{lang|es|k}} and {{lang|es|w}} are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages ({{lang|es|kilo, folklore, whisky, kiwi}}, etc.).

With the exclusion of a very small number of regional terms such as {{lang|es|México}} (see [[Toponymy of Mexico#Phonetic evolution|Toponymy of Mexico]]), pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling. Under the orthographic conventions, a typical Spanish word is stressed on the [[syllable]] before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including {{angle bracket|y}}) or with a vowel followed by {{angle bracket|n}} or an {{angle bracket|s}}; it is stressed on the last syllable otherwise. Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an [[acute accent]] on the [[stress (linguistics)|stressed vowel]].

The acute accent is used, in addition, to distinguish between certain [[homophone]]s, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a [[clitic]]: compare {{lang|es|el}} ('the', masculine singular definite article) with {{lang|es|él}} ('he' or 'it'), or {{lang|es|te}} ('you', object pronoun) with {{lang|es|té}} ('tea'), {{lang|es|de}} (preposition 'of') versus {{lang|es|dé}} ('give' [formal imperative/third-person present subjunctive]), and {{lang|es|se}} (reflexive pronoun) versus {{lang|es|sé}} ('I know' or imperative 'be').

The interrogative pronouns ({{lang|es|qué}}, {{lang|es|cuál}}, {{lang|es|dónde}}, {{lang|es|quién}}, etc.) also receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives ({{lang|es|ése}}, {{lang|es|éste}}, {{lang|es|aquél}}, etc.) can be accented when used as pronouns. Accent marks used to be omitted on capital letters (a widespread practice in the days of [[typewriter]]s and the early days of computers when only lowercase vowels were available with accents), although the {{lang|es|Real Academia Española}} advises against this and the orthographic conventions taught at schools enforce the use of the accent.

When {{lang|es|u}} is written between {{lang|es|g}} and a front vowel {{lang|es|e}} or {{lang|es|i}}, it indicates a "[[Hard and soft G|hard g]]" pronunciation. A [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] {{lang|es|ü}} indicates that it is not silent as it normally would be (e.g., {{lang|es|cigüeña}}, 'stork', is pronounced {{IPA|[θiˈɣweɲa]}}; if it were written *{{lang|es|cigueña}}, it would be pronounced *{{IPA|[θiˈɣeɲa]}}).

Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with [[inverted question and exclamation marks]] ({{lang|es|¿}} and {{lang|es|¡}}, respectively) and closed by the usual question and exclamation marks.