The actualisation of a hybrid model of speech behaviour in British media discourse

Abstract

This study aims to identify the discursive mechanisms involved in the actualization of a hybrid model of speech behavior in British media discourse through an analysis of contexts featuring the phrasal verb to blurt out. The research draws on a custom corpus of online articles from The Guardian and The Times published between 2002 and 2025. The analysis reveals that media texts do not merely register a tension between the traditional British norm of emotional restraint (to keep a stiff upper lip) and impulsive verbal disclosure (to blurt out); rather, they actively justify the legitimacy of expressing emotions and personal experiences in specific social situations — such as divorce, parenting, or classroom interaction. In this discourse, blurting out is simultaneously marked as "un-British" (often associated with an American cultural model of emotional openness) and legitimized as a manifestation of a universal human need for emotional expression aimed at psychological well-being. Thus, British media discourse actualizes a hybrid behavioral stance that combines adherence to the cultural ideal of restraint with recognition of the right to emotional spontaneity. The study is grounded in the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (R. Wodak), theories of hybridity, and contemporary research on media texts and media narratives as instruments for constructing and negotiating social norms.

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