MULK RAJ ANAND AS A NOVELIST

Anand is one of the major novelists of Indo- Anglian fiction today. He may not have the philosophic depth of Raja Rao and wit and humour of R.K.Narayan, yet as a novelist of the child life and under-dog his place is supreme. Like R.K.Narayan he too has shown “stamina and stern consistency” and “talent”. He has now to his credit a corpus of creative fiction of sufficient bulk and quality to merit serious study. His first five novels appeared in the following sequence: - Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), Two leaves and a bud (1397), The Village (1939), and Across the Black Waters (1940). There are however, several novels and collections of short stories to his credit: The Sword and the Sickle, The Barber’s Trade Union, The Tractor and the Corn Goddess, Seven Summers, Private life of an Indian Prince and Morning Face. “In his novels, for the first time, the Indian people had been clearly and intimately described with unflinching realism and deep understanding and the exploiters, whether imperialists or feudalists exposed with uncompromising truth” (Saros Cowasji, introduction to private life of an Indian Prince). Anand’s place may not be near Tagore, but he is certainly the Munshi Prem Chand of Anglo- Indian fiction. Much of his fictional work can be compared with that of Charles Dickens. K.R.S Iyengar says, “As a novelist Anand has been as effective almost as Dickens himself”. Like Dickens’s novels, his novels also offer reformatory zeal, blend of humour and pathos, depiction of child life, union of experience and imagination. Though an original writer, Mulk Raj Anand has been influenced by writers such as Tagore, Bankim Chandra, Sharat Chandra, Munshi Prem Chand, Gandhi, Urdu writer Ratan Nath Sarshar, Muhammad Iqbal, Bhai Vir Singh, ancient Indian fable of the Panchatantra. Punjabi folk tales from the east. The western writers who have influenced Anand are Gorky, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo James Joyce. Dostoevsky and Virgina Woolf. Many of these taught him the art of plot construction and perfected his craftsmanship. They also sharpened his appetie for realism and strengthened his humanism. The handling of the material of his famous novel Private Life of Indian Prince was influenced by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Anand became a novelist with a mission and his theory of the novel is naturally in line with his commitment to his creed. Explaining his choice of this form in preference to others, Anand says:- “The form of creative writing which is the nove came to me much more naturally than any other form, because through this I could live through the experiences of other people and realize what silent passions burst in their hearts, what immediate and ultimate sorrows possess them, where they want to go and how they grapple, in their ways, with their destinics”. To Anand thus the novel is more and more a weapon of humanism. He, however says “the novel states the problems of man’s destiny; it does not solve them, as did the old epic and bardic recital”, but it can focus attention on “the real drama of the body-soul..truth life, with all its suffering and its mightiness which may resurrect genuine humanity through the writer’s ability to bear the yoke of pity”. Through a committed novelist, Anand does not believe that a novel can be a piece of pure philosophy nor does he believe that it can become a piece propaganda, sacrificing all its formal values. Anand’s novels are remarkable for their humanism. “Deep down in him there is the faith that man is by nature lovely and that all his errors and sins and failures are but dust and mud sticking on the outside, they may be shaken off in a moment and man reinstated in his glory”. In this novels Dr. Anand combines Tagore’s humanism, Bankim’s romanticism, Prem Chand’s sympathy for the poor and afflicted and Sharat Chandra’s boundless human sympathy. The theme of his work is “the whole man and the whole gamut of human relationship”. Mulk Raj believes that man is the master of his destiny. So he rejects fatalism. That is why he condemns all obstacles which come in the way of man’s happiness and comfort such as fascism, feudalism, imperialism, caste and creed, exploitation and poverty. He says that all people must have liberty and equality. Mulk Raj Anand deserves a district place because of his realism. In the other words of Iyengar, ‘For all their nationalistic fervor, Bankim Chhandra’s novels were but romances distantly imitative of Scott, with a historical or mystical slant: Tagore was chiefly interested in the upper and middle classes, and Sharat Chandra in the lower middle classes, and Munshi Prem Chandra, to show to the west that there was more in the orient than could be inferred from Omar Khayyam, Li Po, Tagore or Kippling, and so he described a waif like Munoo in Coolien and set them right at the centre of the scheme of cruelty and exploitation that held India in its vivious grip”. Anand’s novels are born of the union of his experience and his imagination. Just as Sir Walter Scott wrote about the life of Scotland in his Waverly Novels and Hardy about the peasant’s life. There is a powerful undercurrent of autobiographical element in Dr. Anand’s Novels. We find in Anand’s novels of a variety of moods- a veritable feast of satire, humour, irony, pathos, tragedy and face. His satire is aimed at social evils and society rather than individuals. Anand’s themes are socio economic. As a novelist he is free from the ‘east past complex’ he does not write about glories of past or the spiritual heritage of India. His themes are the socio economic problems of contemporary India. He is essentially confronted between tradition and modernity. Dr Anand’s language is fine specimen of Indian English. He once wrote, “I found, while writing spontaneously that I was always translating dialogue from the original Punjabi into English”. He freely uses the English translation of Indian abusive expressions in his novels. Such abusive expressions as “son of a pig”. “Ohe, ohe scoundrel of a sweeper’s son”, etc.., abound in untouchable and many other novels. When he describes typical Indian scenes, situations and characters (which do not occur in English life and for which the English Language has no adequate expressions), he uses a language which is the literal translation of Indian utterances and experiences. Dr. Anand uses highly polished and refined language, sometimes tinged with emotions , when he champions the cause of the under dog.

Consonants in English

The word Consonants has been derived from the Greek word consonutem which means the sound produced with the help of some other sound. The consonants sounds are those during the articulation of which either complete or partial closure takes place in the passages of the air stream for a recognizable moment of time. There are forty-four sounds in English language. Out of these twenty four sound are distinctive consonants in English. All the twenty four consonants of English language can be described in terms of three labels ; manner of articulation, place of articulation and voicing patterns. The classification of these sounds according to manner of articulation indicates the nature of stricture (blockage of air-stream) involved, that is, how the passage of air-stream is blocked during the articulation. On the other hand place of articulation indicates the active and passive articulation role that is, the organ of speech involved in articulation. The voicing show the position of vocal cords. The closed position of vocal cords produces voiced sounds, and the open position produces voiceless sounds. Because of the closed position, vibration takes place in vocal cords during articulation and it result into voiced sounds, whereas it's open position does not cause vibration, and so the sounds produced are voiceless. Out of these three labels, manner of articulation is the most technical, and so, it is better to describe these sounds under this type. English language has the following type of consonant sounds. I. Plossives - /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ II. Affricates - /tʃ/, /dʒ/ III. Nasal - /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ IV. Fricatives - /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ V. Laterals - /l/ VI. Approximants - /w/, /r/, /j/ Plosives - These sounds are produced with a stricture of complete closure and sudden release of air causing a kind of explosive effect. Because of the complete closure of air-passage, these sounds are called stop sounds also. Soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage and so these are oral sounds. During the articulation of the sounds /p/ and /b/, complete closure is caused by the two lips, therefore, these are bilabial Sounds (place of articulation). The two lips block the passage of air for a recognizable moment and then sudden release takes place. Likewise, during the articulation of /t/ and /d/, complete closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and alveolar ridge, and so these sounds are alveolar sounds (place of articulation). The sounds /k/ and /g/ are produced by the complete closure caused by the back of the tongue and soft palate (velum), and so these sounds are velar (place of articulation). Out of these six plosives, /p/, /t/ and /k/ are voiceless, and /b/, /d/ and /g/ are voiced, depending on the vibration of vocal cords during their articulation. Examples of plosives are; /p/ - pen, spin, tip, pill, cap /b/ - ball, bat, web, baby, bean, /t/ - two, sting, tea, rat /d/ - do, daddy, deep, bad /k/ - cat, kill, skin, kite, bike /g/ - go, get, beg, good, big Affricates - These sounds are also produced with the stricture of complete closure, but here the release of air is comparatively slow that causes an audible friction. The release is slow because the articulators gradually move apart, not suddenly like plosives. Soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage. The sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are affricates. During the articulation of these sounds the complete closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and alveolar ridge, but front of the tongue is also raised towards the hard palate making these sounds palato-alveolar (place of articulation). /tʃ/ is a voiceless sound and /dʒ/ is a voiced sound depending on the vibration of the vocal cords during their articulation. Examples of affricates are; /tʃ/ - cheese, fetch, chair, teacher, match /dʒ/ - jam, ledger, Nasals - These sounds are produced with the stricture of complete oral closure and release of air through the nose. Since the air is released through nasal passage, the sounds are called nasal. /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are the three nasal sounds in English. During the articulation of /m/, the complete oral closure is caused by the two lips, and so, it is a bilabial sound (place of articulation). In the articulation of /n/ sound, the complete oral closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and alveolar ridge, and so it is an alveolar sound (place of articulation). In the articulation of /ŋ/ sound, the complete oral closure is caused by the back of the tongue and the soft palate (velum) , and so, it is a velar sound (place of articulation). All these nasal sounds are voiced sounds as vocal cords vibrate during their articulation. Examples of nasal are; /m/ - moon, smile, mad, dam /n/ - tin, know, can, man, /ŋ/ - sing, king, finger, going Fricatives - These sounds are produced with a stricture of close approximation that means the two organs come very close to each other but some space is left between them through which the air escapes causing audible friction. Nasal passage is blocked by the raised soft palate. During the articulation of sounds /f/ and /v/, this kind of approximate closure is caused by the lower lip and the upper teeth, and so, these sounds are called labio-dental (place of articulation). In the articulation of the sounds /θ/ and /ð/, the closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth, and so, these sounds are called dental (place of articulation). Further, in the articulation of /s/ and /z/, the closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, and so, these sounds are called alveolar (place of articulation). Again, in the articulation of, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, the closure is caused by the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, but the front of the tongue is also raised towards the hard palate, and so, these sounds are called palato-alveolar sounds (place of articulation). The last fricative sounds is /h/ which is articulated with the narrowing of the glottis, and so, it is called glottal (place of articulation). Out of these nine fricative sounds, /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/ and /h/ are voiceless, and /z/, /v/, /ʒ/, /ð/, are the voiced sounds depending on the vibration of the vocal cords during their articulation. Examples of fricatives are; /f/ - fool, leaf, fan, caf, fine /v/ - voice, have, oven, van /θ/ - thing, teeth, Athens, bath, author /ð/ - this, father, then, other /s/ - see, city, bus, son /z/ - zoo, rose, asthma, zebra, zass /ʃ/ - shot, brash, saw, shine, bishop /ʒ/ - vision, measure, pleasure /h/ - happy, hope, hat, behave Lateral - These sounds are produced with a stricture of complete closure in the center of the vocal tract, but air escapes through the sides palate. During the articulation of /l/ sound, the closure is caused by the tip or blade of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, so this sound is alveolar (place of articulation). It is a voiced sound because the vocal cords vibrate during its articulation. Examples of lateral are; /l/ - leg, lip, luck, fall, lap Approximants - These are the sounds produce with a sticture of open approximation. That means during the articulation of these sounds, the gap between the active and passive articulators is wide enough through which the air escape without any friction. Nasal passage is closed by the raised soft palate. The sound /r/ is articulated with the raising of the tip of the tongue towards the back of the alveolar ridge. Therefore, this sound is post-alveolar (place of articulation). Here, the space between the tip of the tongue and alveolar ridge is quite sufficient for the frictionless continuant. The sound /w/ is articulated with the rounding of the lips like vowel sounds. Therefore, this sound is called semi-vowel also. Since both the lips are articulators, this sound is bilabial (place of articulation). This sound is also called semi-vowel because of its similarity with the vowel sounds in term of articulation. All of these appointments are voiced sounds as vocal cords vibrate during their articulation. Examples of approximants are; /r/ - run, pray, mother /w/ - west, weep, sweet, wood /j/ - yes, beyond, human ------------x-------------

Morphology

                                                        

Morphology is the arrangement and relationships of the smallest meaningful units in a language. So what does this really mean? Every human language depends on sounds. When specific sounds are put together in a specific way, words, phrases, and finally sentences can be created. This is how messages are sent and received.

In order to understand morphology, you need to know the term morpheme, which is the smallest unit of a word with meaning. That meaning is how language conveys messages. Morphemes are more than just letters. When a number of letters are put together into a word part that now has meaning, then you have a morpheme. Morphology studies how these units of meaning, or word parts, can be arranged in a language. There are some words and their constituents for example:-

                         Possible                              --                              no constituents

                         Impossible                          --                              im - possible

                         Asocial                                --                            a - social

                         Boys                                    --                             boy - s

                         Truthfulness                        --                            truth – ful - ness

                         Unfaithfulness                     --                            un - faith - ful – ness

Here all the constituents are morphemes as all of these affect the meaning of the word in some way or other. In some cases, the grammatical class of the word changes, and in others, the meaning changes to a certain extent, after addition of morphemes. In some words, it changes the number or the gender as well. Conventionally, morphemes are placed under the braces like [ ].

Morph. It is the orthographic (written form) and subsequently phonetic realization of a morpheme, i.e. it is a physically identifiable morpheme. All the words that have one morpheme have essentially one morph. There are words like went, took, etc. which have two morphemes but one morph as two morphemes of these words are fused into one in such a way That they cannot be physically identified. Look at these words. 

                                           Went -- go + past morpheme (- ed )

                                           Took -- take + past morpheme (- ed )

                                             Liked -- like + past morpheme (- ed )

We see that the past morphemes (- ed ) of ' went ' and ' took ' are not visible or identifiable unlike the past morpheme (- ed ) of ‘liked’. Therefore, the word ‘liked’ has two morphemes and two morph, but the words ‘went’ and ‘took’ have two morphemes and one morph each. There are words like ‘sheep’, ‘deer’, etc. which don't have plural forms. In such cases, the plural forms are technically called zero morph. 

                                           Sheep -- sheep + zero morph 

                                           Deer --   deer + zero morph 

Such words also, have two morphemes but one morph, because plural morpheme is invisible in them. On this basis we can say that all morphs are morphemes but not all morphemes are morphs.

Allomorphs. These are the variants or alternative realizations: morphemes. That is to say, some morphemes are realized in different forms in different words, such as the plural morpheme [s] is realized as [s] in words like cats, caps, etc; it is realized as (z) in words like dogs, cubs, etc, it is realized as [iz] in words like nurses, judges, etc. All of these three forms [s], [z] and [iz] are allomorphs of the plural morpheme. It shows that an allomorph derives its identity on the basis of its placement in a distinct phonetic environment. The realization of these allomorphs in determined, thus, by a set of morphophonemic rules. Since allomorphs are also orthographically represented, they are all morphs but not all morphs are allomorphs as many morphs do not have alternative forms. It can better be understood with the help of the following diagram. 

A lexeme is that fundamental form of a word in which it appears in a dictionary and works as the source of other forms of this word. For example, the word ‘play’ is a lexeme from which its inflected forms like plays, played, playing, are obtained. The inflectional range of the word ‘play’ in verbal form includes play, plays, played and playing, and so , the word play is lexeme that is realized in these many inflected forms in different contexts , Likewise , the words player , players, player’s, represent the inflectional paradigm of the lexeme ‘player’. The word ‘player’ cannot be accommodated in the inflectional paradigm of the lexeme ‘play’ because of its reference to a different meaning along with difference in grammatical category and place in dictionary. Apart from this, the lexeme ‘player’ has its own inflectional paradigm. A lexeme, thus, may be treated as an abstract entity which is orthographically or phonologically manifested through the different word forms of its inflectional paradigm as shown above in the example. On the basis of the explanation of lexeme, it can be said that all lexemes are words but not all words are lexemes.

Affixation. It is a process of addition of morphemes (affixes) to a word according to the grammatical (inflectional) or semantic (derivational) requirement in a particular context. For example, in a sentence ‘Ali goes’ the word ‘go’ is affixed ( morpheme [es] is added ) to get subject-verb agreement in the sentence . This affixation is grammatical requirement (inflectional) . Likewise, we have words ‘faithful’ ‘childhood’ ‘illogical’, etc. in which affixation takes place according to the need of meaning (derivational). It can be seen like, Affixation are devided into two parts first Prefixation ﴾addition of prefix﴿ and second is Suffixation ﴾addition of suffix﴿.

This affixation takes place in English language through prefixation or suffixation. Prefixation is that process in which a morpheme is added in the beginning or initial position of a word. Such morphemes are called prefixes. Suffixation is that in which a morpheme is added in the final position of a word. Such morphemes are called suffixes.

 Look at these words.

Word	Root	Prefix	Suffix
Unlawful	Law	Un	-ful
Illogical	Logic	Il	-al
Boys	Boy	-	-s
Taken	Take	-	-en
Impolite	Polite	Im-	-

Thus, we see that root is that which can stand alone or exist at its own unlike prefixes and suffixes which cannot stand at their own as a word unless they are bound (affixed) to a root word. The examples given above clearly indicate that un -, - ful , il -, - S, - en, etc. are the affixes which cannot be used freely as words . On this basis, we can go for a generalization like all the root words are morphemes but not all the morphemes are root words.

Classification of Morphemes of English Language

Free morphemes are those root words which are used without affixes (suffix and prefix). These are the root words left after all affixes are removed from it. On the other hand, bound morphemes are those affixes which are always used in the company of free-morphemes. A free morpheme is a precondition for the use of a bound morpheme. All the prefixes and suffixes are bound morphemes, and the word to which they are attached, is free morpheme (the root word). For example, in the word ‘unmerciful’ 'un' and 'ful' are bound morphemes, while 'mercy' is free morpheme. These bound morphemes [un] and [ful] cannot be used without 'mercy' that may stand alone.

Lexical morphemes are those free morphemes which are open to affixation, i.e. affixes can be added to them as per the requirement. These are content words which give the main idea in a sentence. Such morphemes are nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. that contain the central meaning in a sentence. The words like boy play, good, clever, etc. are lexical morphemes as all of these words primarily add to the meaning of a sentence and they can be affixed as well. 

On the other hand, functional morphemes are those which are not open to affixation, i.e. affixes cannot be added to them. They are usually required to fulfil grammatical functions in sentences. Such morphemes are auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. The words like am, and, from, about, etc. are functional morphemes as all of these basically serve grammatical purpose in sentences 

The differences between lexical and functional morphemes can be summarized follows. 

	Lexical morphemes	Functional morphemes
I	They are open to affixation, and so, belong to open class of words.	They are closed to affixation, and so, belong to closed class of words.
II	They are phonologically independent.	They are phonologically dependent on lexical morphemes.
III	They are usually stressed.	They are usually unstressed.
IV	They are content words.	They are form words.
V	They are usually polysyllabic.	They are usually monosyllabic.
VI	They don’t have grammatical features usually.	They have potential grammatical features.

Bound morphemes are of two kinds in English language derivational and inflectional. Derivational bound morphemes are realized through prefixes as well as suffixes, whereas inflectional bound morphemes are realized through suffixes only. Infiectional morphemes are those which are used to fulfill the grammatical requirements. It is seen that nouns or verbs take different forms depending on person, number, tense, etc. in sentences. For example, Salma goes to college', He talked to me, Two boys came in all of these sentences, morphemes les, led] and [s] work as present tense suffix (goes), past tense suffix (talked), and plural suffix (boys), respectively. There are three kinds of inflections used in English. 

(a) Nominal inflections (affixed with nouns)-They are used as plural markers in words like cats, dogs, mangoes, etc., and as possessive markers (genitive) in words with apostrophe, such as cat's, Ram's, etc. 

(b) Verbal inflections (affixed with verbs)-They are used as present tense marker in words like goes, plays, etc., as past tense marker in words like worked, danced, etc. and as present participle marker in words like going, walking, etc. and as past participle marker in words like taken, given, etc. 

(c) Adjectival inflections (affixed with adjectives)-They are used as comparative and superlative degree markers in words like greater, sweeter, greatest, sweetest, etc.

Altogether there are eight forms of inflections found in English which are represented by: -s,-'s (nominal), -s, -ed, -ing, -en (verbal), -er, -est (adjectival). 

All of these inflectional suffixes basically serve the grammatical function in sentences. Inflectional suffixes are always used in the final position of a word. The grammatical class (parts of speech) of a word does not change after an inflectional suffix is added to it. Therefore, it is always class maintaining. Look at these words and their classes.

boy﴾ noun﴿− boys ﴾noun﴿	talk ﴾verb﴿− talked ﴾verb﴿
go ﴾verb﴿− goes ﴾verb﴿	great ﴾adj﴿− greater ﴾adj﴿

Derivational morphemes are those which are used to fulfil the semantic requirements in a particular context. These morphemes produce new words in terms of grammatical category and meaning from the original word. For example, the word 'bookish' that has [-ish] as derivational morpheme, is realized as a new word from 'book' and so, its class changes from noun (book) to adjective (bookish) along with change of  meaning. Such morphemes are class changing. In some cases, class of a word remain the same even after addition of a morpheme that is class maintaining. Further, more than one derivational suffix. May be used in one word, ‘lawlessness’ has two such morphemes [-less] and [-ness], one after the other.Such additions like 'democratizational', 'nationalistically', etc. When one word has both derivational and inflectional suffixes, derivational suffix is closer than the inflectional to the root word, e.g. writers, players, etc. in which [-er] is derivational morpheme followed by [-s] the inflectional morpheme. 

The differences between the inflectional and derivational morphemes can be summarized as follows.

	Inflectional	Derivational
I	It fulfill the grammatical necessity in a sentence.	It fulfills the semantic necessity in a sentence.
II	It is always terminal ﴾final﴿ in position.	It may be initial, medical, or final in position.
III	It doesn’t change the class of the root. i.e. it is always class maintaining.	It may change the class of the root, i.e. it is class maintaining as well as class changing.
IV	It doesn’t alter the meaning of the word.	It alters the meaning of the word.
V	It is limited in form.	It is diverse in form.

Class changing and class maintaining are the two kinds of derivational morphemes. Class changing derivational morphemes are those that change the grammatical catergory ﴾parts of speech﴿ of the root after affixation. For example, the suffix ‘-able’ changes the class of the word ‘read’ from verb to adjective ‘readable’. Look at these example of class changing derivational morpheme.

Kill [verb]	Killer [noun]
Urban [adjective]	Urbanize [verb]
Law [noun]	Lawful [ adjective]
Kind [adjective]	Kindness [noun]

Class maintaining derivational morphemes are those that do not cause the change of grammatical class of the root after affixation. The suffixes -hood, -dom, -ess, -ship, etc. are the examples that can be seen in the words given below. 

Child [noun]	Childhood [noun]
King [noun]	Kingdom [noun]
Lion [noun]	Lioness [noun]
Friend [noun]	Friendship [noun]

All the examples given above show that it is suffixation that has brought about the changes in the root words. Likewise, prefixation also results into class changing and class maintaining morphemes that can be seen through these examples.

Political [adj.]	Apolitical [adj.]	Class maintaining prefixes
Metre [noun]	Pentametre [noun]	Class changing prefixes
Behave [verb]	Misbehave [verb]
Sleep [verb]	Asleep [adj.]
Grade [noun]	Degrade [verb]
Little [ adj.]	Belittle [verb]

Some Important Prefixes and Suffixes in English, Prefixes and suffixes play a very crucial role in derivation of the meaning of words wherever they are used. The process of derivation has been one of the most important sources of word formation in the English language. It has considerably enriched this language in terms of vocabulary. A good idea of prefixes and suffixes is very essential to have a good command of English words. 

Identifying Morphemes, any word consists of either one morpheme or more than one morpheme. A word that has one morpheme (free morpheme) is called monomorphic word. Likewise, words with any morphemes are called polymorphic words. As we have come to know that each morpheme has its effect on the meaning of the word, it is important to identify the morphemes as constituents of words in order to know their meaning properly. It helps us in enriching our vocabulary and developing an insight into the meanings of words as well. The identification of morphemes enables us to predict the meaning of a word to a great extent. In this regard, it is important to mention that a word is realized in different forms when its morphemes are divided. These different forms have been categorized as root, stem, and base. Therefore, let us have a look at these terms. 

A root is that free morpheme to which any other morpheme (bound) is affixed. It is that morpheme which remains as a word after all affixes are removed. For example, in the word ‘anti - national’ ‘anti-’  and ‘-al’ are affixes (prefix and suffix), while ‘nation’  is the root as ‘nation’ will be left after removal of these two affixes and it can stand as a word alone. 

A stem is that part of a word which remains after an inflectional suffix is removed from it. That is to say, any form to which an inflectional suffix can be added may be called stem. The words ‘teach’ and ‘teacher’ may be realized as stems as they can be affixed with inflectional suffixes ‘-es’ and ‘-s’ respectively. The word ‘teach’ may be a root as well as a stem, but the word ‘teacher’ will be a stem only, not a root. Likewise, in the word ‘non – technicians’ ‘non – technician’ is a stem after removal of the plural suffix ‘- s’. Thus, the concept of stem is associated with inflectional feature. 

A base is that form of a word which is open to affixation of any kind, inflectional or derivational. For example, in the word ‘traditionalists’ ‘traditionalist’ is a stem as well as a base because inflectional suffix ‘-s’ has been added to it, but ‘traditional’ is a base, not a stem because it can be affixed with derivational suffix ‘-ist’ only. Likewise, the word ‘tradition’ is a base because it can be affixed; it is a stem because it can be inflected; it is a root because it does not have a bound morpheme. Thus, it can be said that the same word may belong to all three classes; root, stem and base depending on the characteristics mentioned above. The difference among these terms is observable and relevant in making morphological analysis of words.

Morphophonemics deal with the phonological aspects of morphemes. It is, therefore, that branch of linguistics which is in between phonology and morphology. We study the phonetic realizations of different forms of morphemes in it. How different morphemes, particularly inflectional suffixes, are pronounced in different words, constitutes the subject matter of morphophonemics.

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