# Is English the only language that uses the "oʊ" sound?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-english-the-only-language-that-uses-the-o-sound/995820>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 9, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-english-the-only-language-that-uses-the-o-sound/995820 "2024-01-09T08:44:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 39

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-english-the-only-language-that-uses-the-o-sound/995820/39 "2024-01-09T21:19:08Z")

</div>

@AHunter3 : are you from the Upper Midwest? Because I would associate using [o] instead of [oʊ] with that accent. In particular, I associate it with the phrase “Doncha know?”

Wikipedia mentions the [monophthongization](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stein-stine-or-steen/46682) here:

> **[North-Central American English | Phonology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Central_American_English#Phonology)**
>
> Not all of these characteristics are unique to the North-Central region:

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-english-the-only-language-that-uses-the-o-sound/995820)._