ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It depends on what your definition of is is

(Bill Clinton)

Acknowledgements can be a bit boring. Mostly it’s the usual suspects: family, friends, children, the pet goldfish. I have yet to come across one that says ‘Thanks to MYSELF for being such a great person and hard worker’. Probably that is because PhD theses are not created in isolation. And even if one did do all the work by oneself, somewhere, somehow, the product of that work needs to relate to someone to have any value at all. My list of acknowledgements could be as long as this thesis. I would have never had the qualifications to embark on a PhD study, nor been at this particular University, and certainly not been able to complete my thesis, without the help of many good souls. Thank you, dear reader, for giving this thesis its meaning.

First thanks are due to my parents for supporting me over the years in many, many ways. For this I am forever grateful. This thesis is in part your work. Sorry for drilling a hole in that door when I was five.

More than thanks are due to Youn Soo Kim – love of my life. Chop. Chop.

Thanks are due to Rod for more than just his supervision of my research (for which, at times when he sent me back to the drawing board for the seventh time, I felt like doing anything but thanking him ;-). I owe him a debt of gratitude for first offering me a job at the University of Auckland and for encouraging me to apply for a Bright Futures Scholarship. I still remember his reaction when I first came into his office, elated, after having received notification that I had been awarded the Scholarship: ‘I knew you would’ he replied coolly.

Thanks are due to Marilyn for that first brainstorm session in her office when the application for the Scholarship was whipped up (carefully constructed), and for her ongoing support over the years. Also, for encouraging me to start writing books, a wonderful pastime indeed.

To Shawn for his proofreading and statistical advice, for the joint trips and conference visits and more importantly, for asking the waitress in a Singaporean Jazz Café for a Blowjob*. Priceless.

Thanks to the University and especially ELSAC for keeping me off the streets (i.e. in a job), providing opportunities for research and professional development, facilitating conference attendance, and most importantly, supporting me during my PhD studies by letting me work reduced hours (and for still recognising me when I occasionally did come in to work) .

The Foundation for Science, Research and Technology for providing me with a Bright Futures scholarship, allowing me to concentrate on my vegetable garden and my goat-keeping… I mean my doctoral studies, of course.

To Languages International for allowing to do my research there, to the teachers for helping me coerce (=encourage) the students into completing their tests, and especially to Darren Conway, Nick Moore and Sally Logan for providing lots of practical help, and to the assistants in helping collect the data.

Finally, to Supa (RIP), to the S.P.A. Association, to the factory that makes M&M’s, to Abu Tech for nearly making it to the end, and to Abu Majnun for taking over.

All hail to the Queen, Alexa de Paris.

Hayo Reinders
South Kaipara Head
New Zealand
March 2005


* This is the name of a cocktail. What were you thinking?