Remembering Professor Jerry Norman  A Pioneer in Chinese
Language Studies  (Grace Norman)  (Grace Norman)  A Pioneer in
Chinese Language Studies  by Chris Livaccari    When I began my
own studies of Chinese, there were really only two books
available that provided a clear and comprehensive account of the
history of the Chinese language and a linguistic introduction to
Mandarin and the various dialects. One was S. Robert Ramsey’s
book, The Languages of China, and the other was Professor
Norman’s volume on Chinese that is part of the Cambridge
Language Surveys series. As an eager student of Chinese in
college, I still remember picking up Norman’s book, which
immediately shattered my limited understanding of what the term
“Chinese” actually meant. At the time, I had heard of Mandarin
and Cantonese and was aware that there were other “dialects,”
but the book really opened a new understanding about the
language, and about languages in general, that became
fundamental for me.  The book opens with the assertion that