Personal 'nomina masculina' with Word-Formation Suffixes '-ant' ('-ent') in Belarusian

Abstract

The article is devoted to personal nouns with the suffix '-ant' ('-ent') in Belarusian. The lexical and semantic analysis of the studied group of words showed that they belong to the literary variety of the language; however, numerous nouns represent rare vocabulary, sometimes stylistically marked. The overwhelming majority of names designates active agents, less often – passive agents, and least frequently – owners. In addition, 'nomina masculina' with the suffix '-ant' ('-ent') belong to attributive names defining people on the basis of their character traits, tendencies, and often vices. The studied lexis includes archaic or colloquial derivatives. Among specialist words, there were examples representing such fields as law and judiciary, economics and trade, religion and art, as well as education and science.