- 'Talk against' means to publicly express opposition, criticism, or disagreement regarding a person, policy, or idea. It involves voicing negative opinions or arguments to counter a particular viewpoint, often in a debate or to highlight faults.
But the source of the above would be queried or worse by some contributors.
The fact is, the string (probably better analysedanalysed† as verb + preposition rather than multiword verb / phrasal verb) is far less common (as Mark Foskey says) than 'speak against'. The only relevant reference I have found is as a definition rather than being defined:
- Complain To:
Today, let us study the phrasal verb ‘Complain To’, which we often find in common parlance. We shall discuss its meaning and use in a number of sentences. Though it is not a phrasal verb in the conventional sense, it is used with this specific preposition.
Meaning —
- To talk against something or someone before an authority.
[Atmaja Bandyopadhyay, Department of Law, University of Calcutta; Quora]
[In all honesty, the definition leaves a lot to be desired; the complements of 'against' and 'to' here are of course quite different. However, the required string is taken as acceptable.]
So the strings picked out below
- Joan spoke against the new regulations.
- Ali talked against the way the legislation against immorality was gradually weakening.
- Tom complained to the board about several aspects of his treatment.
are all 'not phrasal verbs in the conventional sense'
(ie†ie are analysed as [verb] + [preposition] {then + prepositional; complement}
rather than [verb + particle] + [noun phrase], ie not as multiword verbs.
But they do select for specific prepositions.
'Talk against ...' is acceptable, but not exactly idiomatic; 'speak against' would normally seem the more natural choice.