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A "tilde" is an oblique straight line used to indicate that the vowel which holds it must be pronounced with certain emphasis which, althought I'm a Spanish-speaker, my ear has quite a great problem discerning... The line in question is not a minor modification on the "n" in the same way that the "O" is not a letter upon which the line in "Q" (visualize the small "" added to the "O" for most fonts; I particularly find this font's "Q" faulty... But it does not affects the point I'm making) makes a minor difference... In other words... The "ñ" and the "n" are letters as different as "m" and "n" as "w", "v", "b" and "f" or as "s", "z", "c", "ç", "o" and "q". It stands for the Latin "nn" and for the Italian "gn" sounding sort of like "ni" or "ny" with the "i/y" sound submissively mingled into the "n" sound. It's not a change of emphazis; it's a change of general pronunciation, ethymological derivation (derives from latin roots with "nn" instead of "n" like in "anno" and "ano"), meaning, etc. The "tilde" looks like a smaller version of the "/" the line over the "Ñ" is: "~". (Sorry for being... Pesky?)