This question refers to a class of markings. For those who are not familiar with these marks, here is a small illustration.

In my view:

• The first (“wedged”) is short and percussive.
• The second (the dot) is staccato or shortened, but you must always remember that the shortening is relative.
• The third (like a greater-than sign) is “simply” accented, meaning a change in dynamics.
• The fourth (a horizontal bar) is held.

As suggested, some judgment must be brought to bear in interpreting this notation. Specifically, you have to consider the overall speed and mood of a piece. So staccato means short in fast passages but not as short in slower music. (The note may be bounced or even a short stroke on the string in some cases.) That is, there is a difference between staccato sixteenth notes in a fast, comic passage in Rossini and those in the slow movement of the Eroica. Staccato markings on half-notes, like those we find in O Fortuna from Orff’s Carmina Burana, must be approached in yet another manner.

(2) Also, in the development of the first movement, Mozart meticulously writes staccati for the sixteenth note passages which alternate between lower and upper strings. However, they begin to disappear as the motive is continually developed through repetition. Is this to effect a distinct transition to the next area of development between violins and woodwinds? Was this intended to create “muddiness” for real Sturm und Drang drama in opposition to the typical “transparent” Mozart?

I don’t think Mozart was aiming for a change in articulation. I think that Mozart expected us to continue the same articulation and that his intention was understood in his day.