Family typology: the search for language

Twenty three years of collecting data about family systems has been an adventure. The first product of this work was a family typology; much later we realized that we had also defined the process for making a typology. A survey of the literature suggests that there are many different family typologies in use around the world and that each is supported by an idiosyncratic language. These language differences are just one sign that there is little correspondence between the published typologies. The author proposes that hyperdimensional and invisible aspects of the family obscure the relationships between the many typologies. It is suggested that all typologies are related but as each of the typologists is looking at a different "visible" part of the family the connections are not apparent. A theory called the "Family Corpus" is offered to explain the differences and begin to make relationships between the various typologies evident. Information is offered from the field of biophysics that may point a direction for further research in and understanding of families.