Quasi-Kin

[eldin raigmore]

If a person EGO and a person ALTER treat each other as kin, and are considered by some others as being kin to each other, even though they are not related by “blood” nor by marriage, then they are called fictive kin.

With remarriage (whether after death of a spouse, or after divorce) being such a major “driver” of family-like relationships in modern USAmerica, ex-stepkin, ex-kin-in-law, and stepkin-in-law, are frequently either acquired or retained “kin”. These types of fictive kin are called “quasi-kin” by some authors.

See, for example,

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1982-09679-001[/url]”] Quasi-kin relationships and marital quality in stepfather families.

and/or

https://search.proquest.com/openview/5b ... 750&diss=y[/url]” Quasi-kin relationships, structural complexity, and marital quality in stepfather families: A longitudinal investigation

(Remarriage after a spouse dies, and adoption, are ways of acquiring new quasi-kin, which were fairly frequent even in earlier centuries. And I would guess that a bereaved spouse might still regard, or at least treat, their late spouse’s surviving kin as still being the living spouse’s kin; that’s a way of retaining kin as quasi-kin that saw much use in at various times in various countries in the previous 1500 years.)

I’d like to know whether there are any other natural languages than North American English in which such terms have been growing in recognition and use since around 1970 ?
And what do those natlangs call these quasi-kin?
And what about conlangs you know, or know about? Especially your own conlangs, or those on which you are or have been a collaborator?

[lsd]

in French we amalgamate “ex” “demi” “beau” (ex, half, in-law) for “ alliés ” quasi parents...

[eldin raigmore]

in French we amalgamate “ex” “demi” “beau” (ex, half, in-law) for “ alliés ” quasi parents...

Thanks!
….
“Beau” also means “step-“, doesn’t it?

[lsd]

I think so, but I don't have a complete grasp of English family terms...

[eldin raigmore]

I think so, but I don't have a complete grasp of English family terms...

I have been surprised by how much two languages, both of which are spoken by many CBBeans, can differ in kinterminology, especially in the third degree, but also in the second or fourth degree.
Especially kin who are not “related by blood” (either one is an ancestor or descendant of the other, or they share a common ancestor).

….

In my native ‘lect of modern* English, the “suffix” (?) “-in-law” is added if ALTER is a blood-relative of EGO’s spouse or a spouse of EGO’s blood-relative.
Colloquially it can also refer to a sibling’s spouse’s sibling or a spouse’s sibling’s spouse.
*Edward Gibbon, in his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, used “father-in-law” also to refer to EGO’s step-father or adopted father, and used “son-in-law” also to refer to EGO’s step-son or adopted son.
But my native dialect of modern English distinguishes step-kin from kin-in-law, and does not distinguish adopted kin from blood-kin.

In my native dialect of Modern English if one’s biological parents were married to each other when you were born, or your biological father married your birth-mother and adopted you, the appropriate words are “mother” and “father” and “parent”, and “daughter” and “son” and “child”.
But suppose that marriage is ended; either because your parents separate and divorce, or because one of them dies. And suppose that a living parent re-marries. Then one’s biological parent’s more recent spouse is called your step-parent.
And, if you marry a person who already has biological children or adopted children, who aren’t also your biological children and you don’t adopt them, you call those children of your spouse your step-children.
This is similar to how the German language terms such relationships.

In my native dialect of Modern English, if two people have been kin-in-law such as blood-relative’s spouse’s blood-relative, but the marital relationship is dissolved and ended by divorce, then the proper term (if there is one) is some kind of ex-kin.

I think perhaps quasi-kin terms should involve at least one “ex-“**; or be kin-in-law-in-law or step-kin-in-law or step-step-kin.

**There’s a YouTube channel hosted by a pair of men who are each the other’s ex-step-cousin-in-law.

YouTube · Ex Step Cousin In Laws
320+ followers
Doug and Aaron are Ex-Step-Cousin-in-Laws who just can't get away from each other. No matter what the law has to say about their relations, Doug and Aaron ...

https://www.youtube.com/c/ExStepCousinInLaws

….

Does that clear anything up for you?
Was it TL;DR ?
I hope it helps! And if anyone wants to correct anything about it, please do so!