Only

[Glizdka]

Today, I discovered that the pronunciation of the word only is /oʊnli/. I could swear I've heard /onli/ from native speakers. Am I right?

How would you transcribe Rihanna's only in this song?

 

[GoesStation]

She doesn't have enough time to realize much of a diphthong in the song. I'm pretty confident she pronounces only (and "tone", "bone" and so on) with /oʊ/ in speech.

 

[Glizdka]

She doesn't have enough time to realize much of a diphthong in the song. I'm pretty confident she pronounces only (and "tone", "bone" and so on) with /oʊ/ in speech.

How about yourself?

Is there a chance that in casual conversation, when speaking fast, people reduce the diphthong to a simple vowel? Or is it just that I think I've heard them doing so because I don't know any better?

 

[GoesStation]

I suspect that all speakers tend to reduce diphthongs to monophthongs in rapid speech.