Changes to traditional family structure as reflected in the Danish language

The aim of the article is to analyze the status of the notion of nuclear family in Danish, as well as examine the extent to which the alternative family forms have been able to break through into the mentality of Danish speakers. The first two parts of the study, based on the most linguistically entrenched expressions, revealed that nuclear family can still be regarded as the ideal case, although alternative family forms are also clearly reflected in language. The second part of the study, dealing with a corpus of 50 contemporary texts, demonstrated that the above mentioned ideal is currently being under revision, and that the proponents of the nuclear family model are rather in a disadvantageous position in the Danish discourse. What stood out in both parts of the study, was the non-discriminating and embracive character of the Danish language with regard to the new family forms.