Acknowledgments

As to not add too many words to this already long book, I would briefly like to thank those that have significantly contributed to its creation. First I want to thank my PhD advisor, mentor and colleague Klaus Peter Schneider for countless pointers and pieces of advice, a calm confidence in my abilities and for improving my understanding of how academia functions. Further thanks go to my second supervisor, Susanne Niemeier, who always was very supportive of my work and helped me find my publisher. I should also mention Ulrich Schade, who was a member of my PhD committee and who took the time to actually read my dissertation and give me helpful feedback.

Many thanks go to Nils Frings and Gregor Geiermann for helping me develop and test the experiment program for the study presented here, hosting it online, and giving me lots of valuable feedback along the way. I want to further thank numerous colleagues for input, criticism, and inspiring discussions of my project. Special thanks go to the colleagues and friends who helped me disseminate the call for participants, the interviewees in my pre-study and to anyone who provided data for the experiment.

Sincere thanks also go to Klaus-Uwe Panther, the series editor responsible for publishing the book with Benjamins, as he was very understanding and patient concerning my timing.

I deeply want to thank my wife, Friederike Wolfrum, for helping me hand in the thesis in time for completing my PhD, giving me space to work on the manuscript for the book, and believing in my eventual success the entire time. Last but not least I want to thank my daughter Emilia for coming into my life in the second half of this project, toppling over time schedules and work plans, but broadening my perspective, giving me purpose, and making me smile even during the difficult parts.