We report, for the first time, quadrupole mass spectrometry of neutral and positive ionic hydrocarbon species measured at the rf-biased substrate electrode of an inductively coupled plasma for acetylene rich C₂H₂ : Ar mixtures under various bias, frequency and pressure conditions. It has been observed that, irrespective of initial gas mixture, the resultant plasma is dominated by argon neutrals and ions. This is attributed to highly efficient conversion of acetylene to C₂H due to the enhanced electron density compared with a standard capacitive plasma where the acetylene (neutral and ion) species remain dominant. This conversion may be crucial to film formation via inert rather than hydrocarbon ion bombardment. In addition, the transient formation of CH₄ from acetylene has been discovered using IR absorption spectroscopy with time constants similar to observed pressure variations. Rate coefficients and rates for many of the reaction mechanisms, calculated using measured electron energy distribution functions and species densities, are given. These results have important application in plasma models and growth studies for hydrogenated amorphous or diamond-like carbon film deposition. Film growth under similar plasma conditions is reported in an associated paper along with ion energy distributions for important growth species.