DefinePK

Abstract

Acknowledgement section of PhD thesis is often taken as theleast read section in a thesis as compared to the serious research basedcontent. However, while decoding the significance of acknowledgmentsection, the researchers have focused on the use of compliments andgratitude expressions. This study aims to present the oft neglected aspectof academic theses i-e acknowledgment sections of selected PakistaniPhD literature and linguistic theses to study how and why thesis writersuse politeness strategies to express compliments and gratitude towardsothers. The study also links the use of politeness strategies with thecultural context of writers. The data has been taken from theacknowledgment sections of selected Pakistani PhD theses retrievedfrom HEC Pakistan‘s thesis repository. Leech (2005) and Bach andHarnish‘s (2005) model of politeness strategies is used as framework foranalysis using corpus as a method. The study reveals that the PakistaniPhD thesis writers follow a God-supervisor-colleague-teachers-friendsfamily pattern while expressing gratitude to others. With reference to thecultural and religious norms, the Pakistani writer firstly expressesreligious sentiments and then gives vent to the cultural and personalfeelings of gratitude.