Of toxic substances and toxic masculinity: A corpus-pragmatic study on the development of a contemporary phenomenon

Abstract

This article deals with the phenomenon of labeling something as toxic. In social media, one often reads about toxic masculinity or toxic relationships and the like. Therefore, the question is addressed whether this is a singular phenomenon for social media or whether labeling something as toxic also affects other domains. First, the historical development since the 19th century is outlined. Then, the DWDS newspaper and reference corpus is evaluated based on a corpus-pragmatic methodology to break down the dimensions of meaning and usage in the context of different usage domains. The end result is thus a comprehensive analysis of writing about toxicity and its metaphorizations, which is finally interpreted and understood as a contemporary phenomenon.