Can words of frequency like "always" and "sometimes" be used with the gnomic aspect?

In sentences such as "birds fly" and "people die," the sentences don't talk about habituality but have the gnomic aspect instead. Can words of frequency like "always" and "sometimes" that are usually associated with the habitual aspect be used with the gnomic aspect? For example, is

Bob always cries at funerals, which don't happen habitually.

valid, in that it doesn't necessarily mean that Bob cries at funerals habitually?

Solution 1:

I don't think that "always" matters. I can't imagine a situation in which it would change anything. For example:

Bob cries at funerals.

This is in the gnomic aspect without "always." In as much as funerals don't happen habitually for Bob, Bob's crying at them is habitual. If there's a funeral, Bob has a habit of crying at it. Adding "always" doesn't change the aspect.

The same goes for generics:

Twenty-year-olds become twenty-one-year-olds.

You may be thinking that this can't be generic because all 20-year-olds don't turn 21, some die. You may be thinking it's not habitual because 20-year-olds only become 21 once, hardly a habit. But it is generic because it is being applied to a class or group, and it is habitual because it is what 21 year-olds do. "Always" doesn't change that.

Basically, in English, the gnomic aspect is created by the subject, particularly its number, and the verb, particularly its tense. Given a subject with the correct singularity or plurality coordinating with specific verb tenses, things gain the gnomic aspect. Adjectives can't eek sentences into a gnomic aspect.

http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL95/ALPMB.AspAdvEvents.pdf