Positive Toxicity in Media Discourse

The article is devoted to the analysis of speech behavior, classified as positive toxicity. The authors consider this phenomenon as a special kind of implicit verbal aggression, in which there are no verbal indicators of destructive speech behavior, but at the same time, some of the interviewees violate dialogical conventions. This type of speech behavior creates communicative discomfort for the of the utterance addressee. The research material are gastronomic blogs posted on Yandex Zen platform in 2022-2025. Researchers use methods such as communicative, pragmatic and stylistic analysis. Considering “blog + comment” bundle as a dialogical network macrotext, we identify two types, depending on the vertical or horizontal model of interaction between the blog author and commentators. During the analysis we are demonstrating common and specific tactics (speech moves) for each model, which can be considered as a manifestation of positive toxicity on the part of the commentators of the main text. Both types of blogs present instructional tactics (advice without preliminary request), which implements the intention to change the communication model: in a vertical model situation, it is the desire to take an equal position with the addressee, and in a horizontal communication situation, it is the desire to “verticalize” the model by taking a dominant position. In both types of blogs we can also observe informational toxicity as the introduction of excessive information. In the material under study, communication participants use this tactic in such ways as thesis substitution, capturing the communicative space, and increasing the discursive depth. For blogs with a vertical communication model, toxic speech tactics are the desire to intercept the priority right to speech (substitution of the author’s position) and speech moves aimed at reducing the communicative distance with the addressee (familiarity, violation of the personal boundaries of the author). The results of the analysis allow us to conclude that positive toxicity as a type of speech behavior does not essentially depend on the communicative model, but may differ in a set of tactics and implementation methods.