Is this a question mark?

[Paul Younan]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/syriac-doubl...tion-mark/

Yes, but the Cambridge scholar was about 1,000 years late in "discovering" it. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

Bar-Hebraeus (11th century) treated this topic in his letter on Aramaic Orthography: (see page 51)

http://books.google.com/books?id=S9YOAAA...re&f=false

The reason why it's not always found on every question, is because it's meant for a "chiding" type of question (also explained by Bar-Hebraeus) which explains why the Cambridge scholar seems to think it was associated with a modal change to the tone of the voice (chiding).

+Shamasha