Is Swedish more beautiful than Danish? - A matched-guise investigation

Abstract

It has repeatedly been suggested that Swedes have less positive attitudes toward the Danish language, culture and people, than vice versa (Delsing & Lundin Åkesson 2005; Gooskens 2006). It is tempting to assume that the asymmetric attitudes found in previous investigations should be explained by imposed norms and social connotations. In the present paper we will show experimental evidence for the fact that inherent values also play a role in the aesthetic evaluations of the two languages.