This paper presents seven general principles of nasalization. 1)Regressive nasalization is stronger than progressive nasalization. 2)Vowel nasalization takes place before syllable final nasals or word final nasals. 3)When a nasal consonant is deleted, the vowel nasalization is strong. 4)When a nasal consonant is deleted, the preceding nasalized vowel is pronounced long. 5)Low vowels are more nasalized than high ones. 6)Stressed vowels are more likely to be nasalized than unstressed ones. 7)Nasality and voiced consonants are correlated.
This paper discussed why and how nasalization occurs and explains the adequacy of the seven general principles of nasalization mentioned above by looking at the examples of several languages and the child's acquisition of nasal sounds.