Concerning the Part of Speech of "Yi Lian"

Yilian is used frequently in the modern Chinese.It is generally considered an adverb in the academic circle.This paper traces back to its source in two aspects by contrasting it with lianxu and investigating its usage as adverb.It comes to a conclusion that yilian firstly be formed from the adverb yi and verb lian and it is inclined to be a verb in the use examples all through the ages.Although it is in the process of grammaticalization from which notional word changes to empty word,its grammaticalization has not been fully completed and yilian is not a veritable adverb yet.