icosahedron
it completely depends on context and interpretation. there isn’t one correct way to play an accent, and you are correct that it doesn’t explicitly mean to play louder. what you’re describing as an accent is kind of like a fortepiano. similarly, what i described as an accent closely aligns with a sfortzando. point is, accents are vague and there isn’t a correct way to play one. more specific styles aren’t necessarily correct, and an interpretation is generally only made unambiguous with notation like the aforementioned fortepianos and sfortzandos
the ’ is a breath mark. in this context, it’s indicating a wind player to breathe at that moment. the same meaning applies to vocalists. it can also appear outside winds or vocalists. in such cases, it means to take a slight pause without necessarily altering tempo (usually by shortening the preceding note) the > is an accent. it indicates to play with greater emphasis. how that emphasis comes through depends on the musical context, but it often means playing that note louder or stronger
answer
mahler symphony 7 mvt 3. it’s a really subtle motif that might be easily mistaken for symphony 1, where a very similar motif is used more prominently. in the 7th, it’d be difficult to catch this motif at all unless you’re looking at the score. guessing which symphony and movement this is from, even knowing it’s mahler, would normally be very hard!
source: jan Misali’s video on imperial system