I always took the marking ^ as a landing point or a more delicate form of > (for example, 7 bars and 6 bars before V in Act II, Scene 1 in Desdemona's line). However these distinctions are almost more for the eye than for the ear—to help us feel the shape of the phrase. To actually try to make these distinctions, I think, would create a pedantic reading. You might also want to get the opinion of a musicologist, though.