onsonantal sound of _w_;--as in _queen, quaver, quiver,
quarter, request_. In some words of _French_ origin, the _u_ after _q_ is
silent; as in _coquet, liquor, burlesque, etiquette_.

XVIII. OF THE LETTER R.

The consonant _R_, called also a semivowel and a liquid, has usually, at
the beginning of a word, or before a vowel, a rough or pretty strong sound;
as in _roll, rose, roam, proudly, prorogue_. "In other positions," it is
said by many to be "smooth" or "soft;" "as in _hard, ford, word_."--_W.
Allen_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The letter _R_ turns the tip of the tongue up against or towards
the roof of the mouth, where the sound may be lengthened, roughened,
trilled, or quavered. Consequently, this element may, at the will of the
speaker, have more or less--little or nothing, or even very much--of that
peculiar roughness, jar, or whur, which is commonly said to constitute the
sound. The extremes should here be avoided. Some readers very improperly
omit the sound of _r_ from many words to which it pertains; pronouncing
_or_ as _awe, nor_ as _knaw, for_ as _faugh_, and _war_ as the first
syllable of _water_. On the other hand, "The excessive _trilling_ of the
_r_, as practised by some speakers, is a great fault."--_D. P. Page_.

OBS. 2.--Dr. Johnson, in his "Grammar of the English Tongue," says, "_R_
has the same _rough snarling sound_ as in other tongues."--P. 3. Again, in
his Quarto Dictionary, under this letter, he says, "_R_ is called the
_canine letter_, because it is uttered _with some resemblance to the growl
or snarl of a cur_: it has _one constant sound_ in English, such as it has
in other languages; as, _red, rose, more, muriatick_." Walker, however, who
has a greater reputation as an orthoepist [sic--KTH], teaches that, "There
is a distinction in the sound of this letter, which is," says he, "in my
opinion, _of no small importance_; and that is, the [distinction of] the
rough and [the] smooth _r_. Ben Jonson," continues he, "in his Grammar,
says, 'It is sounded firm in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the
middle and ends, as in _rarer, riper_; and so in the Latin.' The rough _r_
is formed by jarring the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth
near the fore teeth: the smooth _r_ is a vibration of the lower part of the
tongue, near the root, against the inward region of the palate, near the
entrance of the throat."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 419; _Octavo Dict._,
p. 48.

OBS. 3.--W