What are the main differences between vowels and consonants?

The main differences between vowels and consonants can be seen from the following aspects:

Pronunciation: Vowels are phonemes with smooth mouth and no obvious obstacle to airflow. The sound is mainly produced by the vibration of vocal cords, and the position of oral organs such as tongue and lips is relatively relaxed. Consonants need to be blocked by oral organs to produce sounds, and oral organs such as tongue, lips and teeth play a key role in pronunciation.

Syllable characteristics: vowels can be divided into syllables, that is, a syllable contains only one vowel. Consonants usually need to be combined with vowels (vowels or diphthongs) to form syllables, and a syllable can contain one or more consonants.

Importance: Vowel is an important part of syllable core and plays a fundamental role in vocabulary and language. Consonants play a supplementary and auxiliary role in syllables, which helps to distinguish different words and sounds.

Recognition: In pronunciation and listening, the features of vowels are obvious and prominent, which are easy to be recognized and distinguished. The characteristics of consonants are relatively complex, requiring more oral movements and coordination, and it is relatively difficult to distinguish them.

Generally speaking, the differences between vowels and consonants are mainly pronunciation, syllable characteristics, importance and recognition difficulty. Vowels are smooth in the mouth and vibrating in the vocal cords, which are the core of syllables; Consonants need to be blocked by oral organs to help vowels form syllables.