Describe the phonological change that takes place in (1) below. Explain why in (2) the phonological change does not apply, although the same environment exists. 1. /kɪtaabɪk/ = [kɪtaabɪts]  ‘ your book (fem)’ 2. /kɪtaabɪk/ = [kɪtaabɪk]   ‘ your book (mas)’  ‘Your book’ is feminine in the first example, while it is masculine in the second example. In the English language, words are not categorized as masculine or feminine. However, the above examples show some differences. In 1, the phonological script ends with an ‘its,’ while in 2 it ends with ‘ik.’ The phonological change does not occur in 2 because it is a masculine word. Answer the following What is the importance of phonology? Phonology can be described as the study of sound patterns of human languages. One of the benefits of studying phonetics is that it shows the difference between languages through the different sounds that the languages in question have. There are languages that share some sounds, but the difference comes in the sounds that they do not share (Dohlus, 2008). It is also important to note that phonology also helps in learning and understanding a language more. The more one gets to understand the different sounds that are used in a specific language, the more they get to understand the pronunciation of that language and how this affects other languages. This is a very important tool in forensic linguistics. The use of phonetics in a crime scene can inform the criminal investigators where the criminal was coming from (Avery, Dresher & Rice, 2008). Phonology is also important because it helps in other professions like singing. Singing requires the incorporation of different sounds of a language. In some songs, there is a corporation of sounds from two or more languages. Understanding the sound patterns of these languages is very important in coming up with a melody and a tune. Is there a relationship between phonology and other subfields of linguistics? There is a relationship between phonology and other subfields of linguistics. The main subfields of linguistics are theoretical linguistics, forensic linguistics, and applied linguistics. Forensic linguistics is by far the branch of linguistics that is closely related to phonology. One way how phonology is useful for forensic linguistics is by giving criminal investigators an idea of where the criminal is coming from. This is possible if the criminal was recorded saying something. The pattern of his language affects the pronunciation of any language. In a case where the criminal was heard or recorded saying something, his pronunciation will show his language pattern and tell the culture or place the criminal comes from. Phonology is also associated with applied linguistics. Applied linguistics include language development and second language acquisition. It is due to phonetics that people from South America pronounce English words differently from people in America. It is also very possible to find people from the same country pronouncing similar words differently due to the exact place they come from. For example, black Americans pronounce some words differently from whites. What is the relationship between vocal tract length and sound quality? Sound quality is normally affected by