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4. Intertextual positioning 8

Text: my analysis

Key.

Underlining = attributed material
Italics
= implicit ATTITUDE
Purple
= JUDGEMENT
Green
= APPRECIATION
Pink
= AFFECT

 

Attitude

Attribution/
Sourcing

Gridlock, eight hours a day

   

Peak hours in Sydney have expanded from six to eight hours a day, forcing motorists on freeways and highways (1) to crawl at 10 km/h - slower than the average jogger - a new study of the city's transport (2) crisis has revealed.

1. implicit/provoked neg JUDGEMENT - indicates incapacity.

2. explicit neg Appreciation (of the transport situation)
Description as a whole may act to imply incompetence or wrong-doing on the part of traffic-authorities, those responsible for transport planning, etc

endorsed:
impersonal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
assimilation
notice, for example, that it's not clear whether the words such as "slower than an average jogger" and "crisis" are from the report
.

The congestion now eats up one-third of every weekday, and even extends into weekends.

neg Appreciation

? ambiguous. Is this a finding taken from the report? If so, the attribution is by a process of retrospection from the current utterance

An Australian Bureau of Statistics study published this month shows that commuter use of public transport across Sydney has fallen by more than 13 per cent since 1991 while car use has jumped by 10 per cent.

 

endorsed:
impersonal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
assimilation

Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) forecasts conclude that on present trends, travel times on city roads will become six times slower by 2016.

implicit Judgement - indicates incapacity

endorsed:
impersonal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
assimilation

This (1) bleak picture has emerged from a (2) special two-part Herald investigation - which continues tomorrow -

1. neg Appreciation
2. pos Appreciation

The bleak picture emerges from the investigation - very ambiguous as to whether these are the journalists' own findings or those of the "investigation"

just weeks after the State Minister for Transport, Mr Scully, confirmed that the Government's long-awaited integrated public transport strategy had once again been delayed, this time to the end of the year.

implicit Judgement - incompetence by the Government

endorsed:
personal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
assimilation

The latest plan will become the 13th published blueprint of how to fix the city's transport (1) woes (2) None has been fully implemented.

1. neg Affect
2. implicit Judgement - incompetence by Government

 

The Government now faces the prospect of an election fought on urban environmental issues, including traffic chaos and air quality.

   

Labor Party sources acknowledge that in marginal western Sydney seats such as Badgerys Creek, Penrith and the Blue Mountains, the Government's response to public transport problems might hold the key to its re-election strategy.

 

endorsed:
personal:
unidentified
specific:
collective:
+status:
assimilation

"It is three years now and there is simply (1) no excuse," a senior ALP figure conceded. "We need a transport strategy that goes beyond just roads and some pretty big and (2) brave decisions are needed, and now."

1. explicit neg Judgement
2. explicit pos Judgement

endorsed:
personal:
unidentified
specific:
singular:
+status:
insertion

Transport engineers, strategists and planners say Sydney's transport crisis can be (1) blamed directly on decades of (2) ad hoc traffic planning and the focus of consecutive governments on the funding of new roads over public transport systems.

1. explicit neg Judgement
2. explicit neg Judgement

endorse neutral:
personal:
unidentified
generic:
association of collectives:
+status:
insertion

NRMA studies show that peak hours on main thoroughfares such as Military and Parramatta roads have increased by 30 per cent over the past decade.

 

endorsed:
specific:
collective:
+status:
assimilation

...

   

Although the Government has set targets to reduce car use, groups such as the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and western Sydney councils say they are yet to be convinced that there are serious plans behind the political rhetoric

explicit neg Judgement - indicates that the Government is not genuine

endorse neutral:
institutional:
unidentified
specific:
collective:
+status:
assimilation

The Government has pledged answers by November but a recent Department of Transport (DoT) advertisement for interest in mass-transit studies concedes that "in-principle availability" of resources for "large and complex studies" will happen only over the next year. The advertisement, which calls for submissions by tomorrow, wants the studies to include strategic planning, technology, travel demand analysis and financial evaluation.

 

endorsed:
impersonal:
specific:
collective:
+status:
assimilation (partial insertion)

But community lobby groups, councils and transport experts say there is already enough information to justify full-scale plans, and they continue to appeal for money to be spent on rail and bus services in new suburbs.

 

endorsement neutral:
institional+ human:
generic:
association of collectives:
+status:
assimilation

Mr Les Macdonald, who recently resigned as chairman of the Public Transport Advisory Council, said he was cynical about the Government's intentions. "The Government's goals are a breakthrough but there is a distinct danger that this will be yet another very expensive public relations exercise.

explicit neg Judgement - reflects on the veracity/ commitment of the Government

endorsement neutral:
personal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
assimilation + insertion

"Until you pool all the government funding for transport and put it under an independent body that makes (1) sound decisions about public transport and roads then these goals will just be used as (2) pork barrel exercise for election time."

explicit Judgement - reflects on the ability of the transport body
2.explicit neg Judgement - indicates impropriety

endorsement neutral:
personal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
insertion

Professor John Black, of the University of NSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, agreed: "At present there are too many fingers in the pie. The lack of co-ordination that has existed historically continues, and if government is serious about transport reform, control of transportation modes, roads, planning and urban affairs should be vested in one single entity."

Judgement - incapacity

endorsement neutral:
personal:
specific:
singular:
+status:
insertion

[Sydney Morning Herald Monday, 23/3/1998]

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