Which statement about nasalization in vowels is correct?

Nasalization in vowels can change their phonemic symbol as it often introduces a new quality to the vowel sound that distinguishes meaning. In phonology, certain languages differentiate between nasalized and non-nasalized vowels, thereby making nasalization a phonemic feature in those languages. This means that the addition of nasalization can change how a vowel is represented symbolically in the international phonetic alphabet (IPA) or other phonemic transcriptions.

In English, while nasalization may not be phonemically distinctive in the way it is in some other languages, it can still change the quality of vowels in specific contexts. For instance, when vowels occur before nasal consonants, they can be presented differently in terms of their sound production and therefore may be represented with a different phonetic symbol. Thus, recognizing that nasalization can affect the phonemic representation of vowels is key to understanding its role in speech science and phonology.