Dialect change in South‐East Norway and the role of attitude in diffusion

A common claim in the literature is that the local dialects in South‐East Norway are being leveled towards the dialect of the upper social classes in Oslo. A meta‐analysis of previous studies on dialect change in this region demonstrates that this assertion is incorrect, and that linguistic features have diffused from the dialect of the lower social classes in Oslo. Attitude studies show that people in South‐East Norway have strongly negative views on the upper Oslo speech community, and this can largely explain why they do not adopt new linguistic features from this community. Within Oslo, however, linguistic features diffuse from the upper classes down to the lower classes, and the overall picture that can be drawn from these diffusion patterns is that the lower‐class dialect of Oslo is spreading its features outwards from the capital, at the same time as it is gradually disappearing as a distinct sociolect. Det er vanleg å hevda at dei lokale målføra i Søraust‐Noreg vert tiljamna talemålet i dei øvre sosiale laga i Oslo. Ein metaanalyse av tidlegare språkendringsundersøkingar i dette området syner at den påstanden ikkje er rett, og at måldrag i staden spreier seg frå talemålet i dei lægre sosiale laga i Oslo. Haldningsundersøkingar syner at folk i Søraust‐Noreg tykkjer ille om dei frå dei øvre sosiale laga i Oslo, og då kan dét vera mykje av grunnen til at dei ikkje tek imot nye måldrag frå talemålet deira heller. Men innanfor Oslo spreier måldraga seg frå dei øvre til dei lægre sosiale laga, og hovudbiletet frå desse observasjonane vert då at måldrag frå talemålet i dei lægre sosiale laga i Oslo spreier seg utetter Søraust‐Noreg samstundes som det same talemålet noko om senn vert borte i hovudstaden. [Norwegian]     

Queering the Spinsters: Single Middle-Class Women in Norway, 1880–1920

ABSTRACT

Constituting what may be called “a community of spinsters,” Norwegian middle-class unmarried woman played an important role in undermining and destabilizing the heterosexual cultural matrix during the period 1880–1920. In their anti-sexuality, self-sufficiency and hatred of men the spinsters challenged the heteronormativity of the period, and their queerness still presents a challenge to the harmony-oriented, heteromormative Norwegian women's history.     

Norway: relevance of the social development model for post-War welfare policy

This article examines the extent to which social policies in post-War Norway fit three key features of the social development model, namely productivism, social investment and universalism. The historical review shows that the pursuit of a social development model changes in line with economic development and the expansion of the welfare state. It reveals that policies to promote full employment have been central to the country's economic and welfare policies throughout the post-War period. Nevertheless, the extent to which the productivist objective has been emphasised and implemented has fluctuated over time. In contrast to the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s witnessed a strengthening of the work ethic but also a continued commitment to de-commodification. The extent to which the combination of productivism and social investment is pursued is examined with reference to services for the insured and uninsured. The article concludes that the ways in which the social development perspective understands and defends universalism and social investment only partially applies to the mature Norwegian welfare state.     

Organized Environmentalists: Democracy as a Key Value?

This article, taking as its point of departure that voluntary organizations are of crucial importance in a democracy, views the transformation of the Norwegian voluntary sector through the lenses of what happens within the environmental field. Seeing changes within this field as prototypical for the transformation of the voluntary sector more generally, we start with the organizational level and contrast old versus new environmental organizations. The aim is to ascertain to what extent the newly built organizations are leaving the historically important democratic organizational model. Second, we compare attitudes toward democracy of members of the democratically and nondemocratically built organizations: attitudes both toward democracy within a voluntary organization (internal) and democracy in society (external). Furthermore, we compare these findings with what we find for the population at large. The last section analyzes demographic characteristics of organized environmentalists to see whether a new type of elite, more distanced from the population at large, is emerging in the new and nondemocratically built organizations. The study finds that new organizations are definitely breaking with the democratic organizational model. The support for democracy (internal and external) is comprehensive but not always overwhelming, and there is a tendency in the direction of congruence between organizational structure and individual attitudes. That is, members of democratically built organizations especially value internal but also to some extent external democracy more than members of nondemocratically built organizations. However, even if formal democratic structure and democracy as an absolute and generalized value seems to be under pressure, it does not follow that a new type of elitism is emerging.     

论村上春树早期小说的救赎作用

村上春树,一位将日本文学推向国际舞台的当代日本畅销书作家,以其《挪威的森林》为代表的早期创作书写了日本后工业时代都市青年在物质化进程中被挤压和损害后所表现出的亚健康心理,揭露了高度发达的资本主义社会的丑恶本质。对青春年华的追忆、对彼岸世界的幻想、对生命本真的珍惜、对纯洁爱情的向往,构成了村上春树心灵救赎的良药。村上春树的早期创作为现实社会中陷入精神困顿的人们实现自我救赎提供了有益借鉴。本文拟从村上春树早期长篇小说所表现出的救赎主题出发,探讨其背后所蕴含的意义。     

Outsiders favor the most: Status and the heterogeneity of audience coverage in M&A deals

Uncertainty experienced by market audiences is the fundamental premise for status to take effect. Whereas prior research usually assumes that uncertainty is evenly distributed among audiences, this study emphasizes the heterogeneity of audiences. Audiences usually differ in the scope of firms they cover. They acquire more information and confront less uncertainty when evaluating firms under their coverage than those not. Status may thus exert different effects across audiences. My theoretical development is situated in the context of M&A. In particular, I hypothesize that although an acquirer's status is generally beneficial, it is more appealing to investors who do not cover the acquirer, as compared to covering investors. Results of the empirical analysis on the U.S. deals between 1990 and 2014 provide considerable support for my framework.     

在通向强势话语途中--从森林里走出的女性主义

通过对《挪威的森林》的叙述的结构主义叙述,对《挪威的森林》作为一个女权主义权力话语的解读,意在表明日本当代"纯文学"作家村上春树的《挪威的森林》是男性作家笔下女性文学话语通过"再区域化"走向强势话语的特别产出。     

村上春树《挪威的森林》中人物性格特征解读

《挪威的森林》以1968年"全共斗"运动为背景①,通过对大学生我与直子、绿子等一些青年的生活经历的描绘,反映了当代青年的失落、孤独的精神世界,提示了后工业社会中日本青年多元文化选择下的困惑小说的主题始终围绕着生与死、性与爱、传统与现代而展开。     

生存悖论与救赎悲歌——《挪威的森林》的生死链解读

《挪威的森林》的生死链展现了日本现代个体面临的理想与现实的冲突,表征了现代个体的生存悖论与救赎悲歌。作品所呈现出来的生命景观并不是催人奋进的激情之表述,其中人物的生存抗争只是对生命存在的一种应对姿态,而死亡也仅仅是将现代人的自我拯救推上自我毁灭的救赎悲歌。