Renewing vows: a diachronic analysis of <marriage> as ideograph

Abstract

During the height of same-sex marriage debate, the authors' research identified <marriage> as an ideograph. This ideograph was defined synchronically by participants with shared concepts of commitment and love. Their data also demonstrated ideological differences in the then-current same-sex marriage debate. The previous paper was limited in that it only considered the synchronic characteristics of <marriage>. Through a diachronic analysis of <marriage>, this paper seeks to examine the changes in the definition of marriage subsequent to Obergefell v. Hodges. Using an analysis of qualitative survey data, this paper argues that <marriage> retains contractual and love characteristics as defining components. References to the same-sex marriage debate largely disappeared, but there remains an ideological difference in new conflicting themes of marriage as a legal construct and marriage as tradition. The change in the definition of <marriage> demonstrates the importance of diachronic analysis to reveal ideological understandings and synchronic fractures in ideographs at a given time that ultimately influence understanding of the overall ideograph.

Keywords:

• Diachronic Analysis
• Ideograph
• Marriage
• Same-Sex Marriage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.