Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Symbols and Abbreviations -- Introduction -- The Problem of Applying the Concept of Definiteness to Reference Resolution -- Definiteness as a Matter of Degree -- Approach and Objectives -- Overview of the Present Study -- The Current State of Research on Definiteness and Nominal Reference Resolution -- Defining Definiteness -- Semantic Subcategorization of Nouns -- Representation of Determiners in an XObar and in a -- Construction Grammar -- Nominal Reference Resolution -- On the Concept of Definiteness -- Ojz Selected Ontology -- OjX A Set of Rules for the Use of the Articles -- OjO Analysis of Data from Modern German and English -- Ojx Evaluation of Results -- Application of the Concept of Definiteness in a Reference Resolution Algorithm -- xjz A Unification Parser -- xjX A Heuristic for Ordering Known Spaces -- xjO The Algorithm for Nominal Reference Resolution -- xjx Analysis of Data from Modern English and -- Evaluation of Results -- Application of the Proposed Approach to Data from Earlier Periods of the German Language -- Ejz Old High German -- EjX Middle High German -- EjO Early New High German -- Ejx Evaluation of Results -- Conclusion -- Implementation of the Algorithm for Nominal Reference Resolution -- Implementation of the Heuristic for Ordering Known Spaces -- Bibliography.