Language is a potential source of predictors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), as changes in speech characteristics, communication habits, and word choice may be indicative of increased suicide risk. We reviewed the current literature on STBs that investigated linguistic features of spoken and written language. Specifically, we performed a search in linguistic, medical, engineering, and general databases for studies that investigated linguistic features as potential predictors of STBs published in peer-reviewed journals until the end of November 2021.We included 75 studies that investigated 279,032 individuals with STBs (age = 29.53 ± 10.29, 35% females). Of those, 34 (45%) focused on lexicon, 20 (27%) on prosody, 15 (20%) on lexicon and first-person singular, four (5%) on (morpho)syntax, and two (3%) were unspecified. Suicidal thoughts were predicted by more intensifiers and superlatives, while suicidal behaviors were predicted by greater usage of pronouns, changes in the amount of verb usage, more prepend and multifunctional words, more nouns and prepositions, and fewer modifiers and numerals. A diverse field of research currently investigates linguistic predictors of STBs, and more focus is needed on their specificity for either suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

语言是预测自杀念头和行为 (STB) 的潜在来源，因为语言特征、交流习惯和词语选择的变化可能表明自杀风险增加。我们回顾了当前有关 STB 的文献，这些文献调查了口语和书面语言的语言特征。具体来说，我们在语言、医学、工程和通用数据库中搜索了研究语言特征作为 STB 潜在预测因子的研究，这些研究在 2021 年 11 月之前发表在同行评审期刊上。我们纳入了 75 项研究，调查了 279,032 名 STB 个体（年龄 = 29.53 ± 10.29，35% 为女性）。其中，34 个（45%）专注于词典，20 个（27%）专注于韵律，15 个（20%）专注于词典和第一人称单数，4 个（5%）专注于（形态）句法，两个（3%）未指定。更多的强化词和最高级可以预测自杀念头，而更多的代词使用、动词使用量的变化、更多的前置词和多功能词、更多的名词和介词以及更少的修饰语和数字可以预测自杀行为。目前，多个研究领域都在研究 STB 的语言预测因子，需要更多地关注它们对自杀念头或行为的特异性。