Agent-noun polysemy in Slavic: some examples

Agentive formations in Slavic languages employ a vast amount of suffixes, some of which are common to all individual Slavic languages, while others are productive (or have evolved) only in particular regions of the Slavic-speaking area. This contribution presents examples of the most characteristic features of agentive formations across Slavic languages, including Old Church Slavonic as a representative of a diachronically earlier language state. In order to assess the specific setting of polysemy of agentive formations, attention focuses on enhancing factors such as multifunctionality, i.e., applicability of one and the same suffix to verbal and nominal (optionally including adjectival) bases.