Many Italian words undergo denasalization. The process occurs in consonant clusters. In English and Romance languages such as Spanish and French, the nasal is preserved. Here are examples:
costante (constant)
costellazione (constellation)
costituzione (constitution)
costruzione (construction)
dimostrazione (demonstration)
ispezione (inspection)
ispirazione (inspiration)
istituto (institute)
istruzione (instruction)
mostro (monster)
Italian denasalization can be observed in syllable-initial consonant clusters which begin with sp and st. However, the process is not categorical. For example, the Italian word for installation is installazione. The Italian word for consideration, considerazione, maintains the nasal but denasalization does not apply because the word has no consonant cluster after the nasal.
Portuguese also has denasalization, but Portuguese denasalization occurs in a different environment. The Portuguese word for institute is instituto, but words such as coroa (crown) and lua (moon) have denasalization in an intervocalic position. In this position Italian does not denasalize. The Italian words for crown and moon are corona and luna.
Denasalization is a common phonological process in Italian. It is also common in Portuguese, but the environment is different. Many Italian words exemplify denasalization. This serves to distinguish Italian from other Romance languages.
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