In this book, the micro-modular approach known as Tiernet within Conceptual Semantics is introduced. Constructions make up an important part in the approach, but in this approach constructions are considered to be exceptions, licensed links between micro-modules, one of the kinds of symbolic modules in the approach. Similar to construction grammar approaches, the micro-modular approach takes a solid interest in the 'periphery' and thus also studies irregular linking principles like constructions. The book details particulars in the development of generative grammar (...) and the relation of Conceptual Semantics to this development, and then introduces the micro-modular approach and shows its usefulness for the description of language generally by not only using examples from English, but also, and in particular, by applying the micro-modular approach of Conceptual Semantics to data from Finnish. (shrink)

In the past few decades, contextualist conceptions of meaning and knowledge have gained ground in the humanities and social sciences. In literary studies the question of the consequences of contextualism for the practices and self-understanding of the discipline has become one of the most hotly contested topics. The present book addresses this issue, with the purpose of providing a corrective to these debates, which have predominantly relied on simplified notions of the text-context relationship. To this end, the author first presents (...) a systematic account of the issues surrounding contextualism. Proceeding from that, a heterological model of interpretation is proposed which is based on a multi-level notion of context and allows for a heterology of epistemological foundations -- or, “anchorages” -- of meaning. (shrink)