Interrogative particle vs. separative conjunction: ti in the dialects of the Russian-Belarusian border region

The article discusses the use of the particle/conjunction ti in the dialects of the Nevelsky district of the Pskov region (the research is based on the materials of field records and the Card indexes of the Pskov regional dictionary). This particle/conjunction is a feature the Western group of dialects of the South Russian dialect, but it is also fixed in other territories. The following main cases of using ti - both particle and conjunction - are noted in different contexts and meanings: 1) interrogative particle (increases the interrogative meaning); 2) modal-interrogative particle, where the meaning of doubt, assumption becomes the main; 3) separative conjunction, comparable with Russian literature ili (ili … ili), both repetitive and non-repetitive, the meaning of which implies the choice of two alternatives, which can also be accompanied by modality of doubt, uncertainty; 4) subordinating conjunction that joins subordinate clause, expressing an indirect question that is comparable to the modal-interrogative particle in a simple sentence. The use of ti in the meaning of the interrogative particle and the separative conjunction is uneven across the dialects of different villages - some are characterized by the use of the conjunction, others - particles. In different meanings of the particle/conjunction ti in the Nevel dialects one can see two poles - a pure interrogative meaning and the meaning of the separative conjunction, assuming a choice between two mutually exclusive events. Between these poles there is a wide “transition zone”. If the question becomes “rhetorical”, the modality of doubt and uncertainty is added to the interrogative meaning of the particle, which becomes the only one if 202 the construction changes from interrogative to narrative. In the separative construction, if one of the alternatives becomes common (expressed by a pronoun or adverb), then the modal meaning of doubt and uncertainty also arise. As a result, we get a large number of sentences in which it is difficult (or even impossible) to differentiate the interrogative particle and the conjunction.