“All the aids which a beginner needs”: James Summers’ (1828-1891) research on Chinese grammar

Abstract

James Summers (1828-1891) is the first British professor who conducted systematic research on Chinese grammar. As a former missionary, he had been directly exposed to vernacular Chinese, which enabled him to teach and research it at King’s College London in his later career. This dissertation provides a complete picture of his research on Chinese grammar throughout his publications. It further brings Summers to prominence in the historiography of linguistics. By tracing which and whose ideas inspired him and who he, in turn, influenced, this study identifies his position relative to other linguists. The dissertation claims that Summers was able to integrate the research of his predecessors and arrange their findings and conclusions in his own clearly pedagogically oriented research, abandoning the purely theoretical conclusions to help his students learn Chinese efficiently.