Abstract
This thesis shows that although yiban ‘generally’, yiguan ‘at all times’, yixiang ‘all the time’ and yizhi ‘continually’ in Mandarin Chinese all denote continuity and/or genericity, they behave differently. This thesis proposes that these four adverbs adjoin to different structural levels of the sentence. Theoretically, the syntactic hierarchy of these four adverbs matches the theories proposed by Cinque (1999), Tenny (2000) and Liao (2004). Yiban and yixiang are associated with a higher aspect level (Liao’s (2004) TAS model), between TP and vP. Yiguan is structually associated with vP-level, as a subject-oriented adverb. Yizhi is located between a higher aspect and a middle aspect. In regards to continuity, yixiang and yiguan exhibit discontinuity and modify the set of events in a situation-by-situation manner. Yizhi, in contrast to yixiang and yiguan, exhibits continuity and focuses on repetitive or continual action within a given time interval. Yiban permits exceptions, and it does not imply any sense of continuity. In regards to genericity, yixiang and yiguan neither tolerate exceptions nor have a future interpretation. They both entail a set of events that have happened in a time frame ranging from the past, while yiguan, differing from yixiang, requires the event to be held at the speech time. Yizhi does not show any semantic feature of genericity, either. Yiban allows for exceptions, has a future interpretation, and can be considered a generic adverb.