Analysis of Historical Changes in Family Boundaries Using Large Text Data

Won-tak Joo, University of Florida

How has the boundary of the family expanded, contracted, or shifted over time? To answer this question, we analyze large English text corpora from the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Using automated dependency parsing and coreference resolution, we identify all individuals named around three pivotal family events—marriage, childbirth, and parental death. For every event, we construct a micro-ego network and compute boundary indicators that capture the proportion of extended/affinal kin and non-kin involved, as well as the relative prominence of spousal ties. We specifically compare: i) the role of each type of relationship by differentiating verb types (e.g., caregiving, financial support), ii) temporal and spatial dynamics in family boundaries across the United States, and iii) their correspondence with empirical patterns in demographic indicators. These comparative lenses let us trace not only who is counted as family over time, but also how family roles are enacted and how textual patterns mirror observed demographic shifts.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 133. Union Formation and Dissolution in Historical Perspective