Editing Romance languages (section)

===== Nasalization =====
In both French and Portuguese, [[nasal vowel]]s eventually developed from sequences of a vowel followed by a nasal consonant (/m/ or /n/). Originally, all vowels in both languages were nasalized before any nasal consonants, and nasal consonants not immediately followed by a vowel were eventually dropped. In French, nasal vowels before remaining nasal consonants were subsequently denasalized, but not before causing the vowels to lower somewhat, e.g. ''dōnat'' "he gives" > OF ''dune'' {{IPA|/dunə/}} > ''donne'' {{IPA|/dɔn/}}, ''fēminam'' > ''femme'' {{IPA|/fam/}}. Other vowels remained nasalized, and were dramatically lowered: ''fīnem'' "end" > ''fin'' {{IPA|/fɛ̃/}} (often pronounced {{IPA|[fæ̃]}}); ''linguam'' "tongue" > ''langue'' {{IPA|/lɑ̃ɡ/}}; ''ūnum'' "one" > ''un'' {{IPA|/œ̃/, /ɛ̃/}}.

In Portuguese, /n/ between vowels was dropped, and the resulting [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] eliminated through vowel contraction of various sorts, often producing diphthongs: ''manum, *manōs'' > PWR *''manu, ˈmanos'' "hand(s)" > ''mão, mãos'' {{IPA|/mɐ̃w̃, mɐ̃w̃s/}}; ''canem, canēs'' "dog(s)" > PWR *''kane, ˈkanes'' > *''can, ˈcanes'' > ''cão, cães'' {{IPA|/kɐ̃w̃, kɐ̃j̃s/}}; ''ratiōnem, ratiōnēs'' "reason(s)" > PWR *''raˈdʲzʲone, raˈdʲzʲones'' > *''raˈdzon, raˈdzones'' > ''razão, razões'' {{IPA|/χaˈzɐ̃w̃, χaˈzõj̃s/}} (Brazil), {{IPA|/ʁaˈzɐ̃ũ, ʁɐˈzõj̃ʃ/}} (Portugal). Sometimes the nasalization was eliminated: ''lūna'' "moon" > Galician-Portuguese ''lũa'' > ''lua''; ''vēna'' "vein" > Galician-Portuguese ''vẽa'' > ''veia''. Nasal vowels that remained actually tend to be raised (rather than lowered, as in French): ''fīnem'' "end" > ''fim'' {{IPA|/fĩ/}}; ''centum'' "hundred" > PWR ''tʲsʲɛnto'' > ''cento'' {{IPA|/ˈsẽtu/}}; ''pontem'' "bridge" > PWR ''pɔnte'' > ''ponte'' {{IPA|/ˈpõtʃi/}} (Brazil), {{IPA|/ˈpõtɨ/}} (Portugal).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110550283/html |title=Manual of Romance Phonetics and Phonology |year=2021 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-055028-3 |editor-last=Gabriel |editor-first=Christoph |page=234 |doi=10.1515/9783110550283 |hdl=1983/44e3b3cd-164e-496b-a7a6-6b3a492e4c48 |s2cid=243922354 |editor-last2=Gess |editor-first2=Randall |editor-last3=Meisenburg |editor-first3=Trudel |access-date=2023-09-06 |archive-date=2023-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906182812/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110550283/html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Romanian shows evidence of past nasalization phenomena, the loss of palatal nasal [ɲ] in vie < Lat. vinia, and the rhotacism of intervocalic /n/ in words like mărunt < Lat. minutu for example. The effect of nasalization is observed in vowel closing to /i ɨ u/ before single /n/ and nasal+consonant clusters. Latin /nn/ and /m/ did not cause the same effect.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110550283/html |title=Manual of Romance Phonetics and Phonology |year=2021|publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-055028-3 |editor-last=Gabriel |editor-first=Christoph |page=235 |doi=10.1515/9783110550283 |hdl=1983/44e3b3cd-164e-496b-a7a6-6b3a492e4c48 |s2cid=243922354 |editor-last2=Gess |editor-first2=Randall |editor-last3=Meisenburg |editor-first3=Trudel |access-date=2023-09-06 |archive-date=2023-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906182812/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110550283/html |url-status=live }}</ref>