Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore linguistic and psychological differences in suicide notes and the diaries of non-suicidal people. Fifty-six suicide notes and 56 personal diary entries were analyzed to provide basic descriptive data on linguistic and psychological variables using the Korean Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program. The results revealed that the two groups noticeably differed—suicide notes had more words or phrases per sentence; fewer modifiers, numerals, and affixes/suffixes associated with logically elaborated sentences; and more first- and second-person pronouns than the diaries of non-suicidal individuals. Suicide notes also used fewer positive words and future tense verbs, as well as more negative, sadness/depression-related words. Inter-correlations between the linguistic and psychological domains revealed some heterogeneity between the groups. Further research is needed on the practical applications of this study.

摘要

这项研究的目的是探讨自杀笔记和非自杀者日记中的语言和心理差异。使用韩国语言查询和字数统计程序对56份自杀笔记和56条个人日记条目进行了分析，以提供有关语言和心理变量的基本描述性数据。结果显示两组明显不同：自杀笔记的每个句子中的单词或短语更多；与逻辑上详细阐述的句子相关联的修饰语，数字和词缀/后缀较少；第一人称和第二人称代词比非自杀个体的日记要多。自杀笔记还使用了更少的肯定词和将来时动词，以及更多的与悲伤/沮丧相关的否定词。语言和心理领域之间的相互关系揭示了群体之间的某些异质性。需要对该研究的实际应用进行进一步研究。