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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27791
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27791
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Accents are not decorations. Have a reason for using them beyond "I'm writing a fantasy and they look cool." (The same goes for apostrophes.)

In addition to Daniel's very good answer:

- An accent may indicate not just spoken vs. silent but a completely different word. See the differences between _des, dés,_ and _dès_[here](https://french.yabla.com/lessons.php?lesson_id=260)(_of, dice,_ and _since_ respectively) and _côté, côte,_ and _cote_ [here](https://french.yabla.com/lessons.php?lesson_id=207)(_side, coast,_ and _stock_).
- An accent can change the pronounciation of a vowel. The umlaut (not a native English diacritical mark) over a vowel in English generally means that the vowel is written once but said twice: _naïve_ is said_nye-eve,_ not _nave._ This is why you might occasionally see _cöoperation,_ to make sure you don't think it should be _coop eration._
- Accents may be required by pronounciation, or change it. The cedilla makes a C soft (_François_ is _Fran-swah_, not _Fran-kwah_). The tilde adds a vowel to an N (_jalapeño_ is _hala-pee-nyo,_ not _hala-pee-no_). 
- Sometimes accents are used to indicate historical orthography. The circumflex over a vowel in French means that at some time in the past, the word had an S in it. _Hôtel_ used to be _hostel,_ _maître_was _maistre,_ and so on.
- I don't speak or read Hebrew, but I know that it's written without vowels, and the accent marks (dots) indicate what the vowels are. More discussion [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_diacritics)

This question might also be useful: [How can I effectively invent a language?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/4368/how-can-i-effectively-invent-a-language/)

If you want a more thorough discussion of creating a language, known as a _conlang_ or constructed language, I highly recommend David Peterson's [_The Art of Language Invention._](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0143126466) Peterson created languages for _Game of Thrones_ and _Defiance,_ among other properties.

Original score: 9