EN
Originally, m-independence, ℳ -rank, m-stability and m-normality were defined only for small stable theories. Here we extend the definitions to an arbitrary small countable complete theory. Then we investigate these notions in the new, broader context. As a consequence we show that any superstable theory with $< 2^{ℵ₀}$ countable models is m-normal. In particular, any *-algebraic group interpretable in such a theory is abelian-by-finite.