How does an accent above a vowel affect pronunciation?

Question

See above. Also, am i correct in thinking it's called a tilde?

Thanks

Answer 1

It affects it a lot. For example the words ánimo, animo y animó look very similar, but are pronounced very differently. The accent tells you where the oral accent (el acento tónico) falls, and tells you that a word doesn't follow the normal rules of Spanish grammar. You are correct in calling the accent "la tilde". You can also say: "el acento ortográfico"

Answer 2

Yes you're right calling the accents tildes, I used to think it only meant the squiggle used above the ñ but have now learnt differently

the word tilde can refer to any diacritic in this language; for example, the acute accent in José is also called a tilde in Spanish.

Answer 3

It effects more than pronunciation. Notice the difference between:

esta=demonstrative adjective (es ta)

está=verb (es ta)

ésta=demonstrative pronoun (és ta)

Notice that the diacritical accent on ésta has no effect on the pronunciation, but a profound difference in meaning.