Acknowledgements

This book is based on my PhD dissertation, which I completed at the University of Edinburgh in May 2022. I am greatly indebted to the many people who have supported me during my time in Scotland, and who have helped make this work possible.

First and foremost, I owe my sincerest thanks to my three supervisors: Graeme Trousdale, Nik Gisborne and Chris Cummins. Throughout my PhD, I have benefitted greatly from their insights, advice and support. Our discussions have informed various aspects of this book, and I think back fondly to the mix of discussions, disagreements and anecdotes that filled many of our meetings.

I am also grateful for the detailed feedback I received from Holly Branigan and Martin Hilpert, who examined my dissertation, as well as Hannah Rohde and Martin Pickering, who provided helpful comments at annual review meetings. Moreover, I am indebted Adele Goldberg, who kindly allowed me to stay at Princeton University in spring 2020 and explore a new and exciting research environment. My thanks also go to the School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences at Edinburgh, which provided me with a scholarship during my PhD as well as funding for conference travel and the experiments reported in this monograph.

When preparing this book, I benefitted from the comments of an anonymous reviewer, who raised excellent questions and encouraged me to write in a more engaging style. All remaining errors are, of course, my own. During the publication process, I was guided very competently by the editors of this book series, in particular by Mirjam Fried, and by the team at John Benjamins. I also owe my thanks to Roberto G. de Almeida, who allowed me to edit this manuscript during my postdoc at Concordia University, Montreal.

Moreover, this work has been informed by the many enriching conversations I have had with colleagues, including Alice Turk, Rob Truswell, Stefan Hartmann and Jenny Audring. I also want to thank my friends at Edinburgh, who offered me support, wisdom and distraction during the more difficult moments of the PhD. My special thanks go to Claudia Raihert, who has commented on parts of this book and whose presence in my life continues to inspire me. Finally, I am extremely grateful to my parents, who have shown me more interest and support than anyone could deserve. My dad continues to be one of my most critical readers, and his clear-sighted advice has benefitted various aspects of this book.