This work was accepted as a dissertation by the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies at Bielefeld University in the winter semester of 2007/2008. Throughout the process, I received intellectual, emotional, and material support from many sources, for which I am very grateful. First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Dr. Klaus-Michael Bogdal for his supervision, which has accompanied the entire development of this work over the years. His participation, characterized by care and scientific precision, was a significant help to me at every stage of my doctoral studies. I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to Professor Dr. Uwe Koreik, who reviewed this work with interest. I am grateful to Dr. Lutz Köster for his critical comments on the first draft of the manuscript and for his ongoing interest.