LIWC Dictionary (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count)

Ordering information

The WordStat version of the LIWC Dictionary is currently distributed with the original LIWC2001 software package. You can order the LIWC software directly from the authors. The LIWC2001 software is available in both Windows and Mac format. However, the WordStat version of the dictionary can only be used on a Windows compatible computer with the WordStat content analysis software.

Dictionary information

Description

The LIWC2001 Dictionary is composed of 2,290 words and word stems. Each word or word-stem defines one or more word categories or subdictionaries. For example, the word 'cried' is part of four word categories: sadness, negative emotion, overall affect, and a past tense verb. Hence, if it is found in the target text, each of these four subdictionary scale scores will be incremented. As in this example, many of the LIWC2001 categories are arranged hierarchically. All anger words, by definition, will be categorized as negative emotion and overall emotion words.

Each of the 74 preset LIWC2001 categories is composed of a list of dictionary words that define that scale. The table below provides a comprehensive list of the LIWC2001 dictionary categories with sample scale words, and relevant scale word counts.

The LIWC dictionary is also available Spanish and German. French, Italian and Dutch versions are currently under development. To obtain information about those versions of the LIWC, please contact James W. Pennebaker.

WordStat format

Of the 2,290 words and word stems included in the original LIWC dictionary, only one entry (e.g. LIKE) could not be included in the WordStat version because of specific disambiguation rules used . We are confident that this minor difference won't affect very much the numerical results or conclusions of a content analysis.

Selected References

Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8, 162-166.

Pennebaker, J.W., & Francis, M.E. (1996). Cognitive, emotional, and language processes in disclosure. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 601-626.

Pennebaker, J.W., & King, L.A. (1999). Linguistic styles: Language use as an individual difference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1296-1312.

Pennebaker, J. W., Mayne, T., & Francis, M. E. (1997). Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 863-871.

Pennebaker, J.W. (2002). What our words can say about us: Toward a broader language psychology. Psychological Science Agenda, 15, 8-9.

Newman, M.L., Pennebaker, J.W., Berry, D.S., & Richards, J.M. (2001). Lying words: Predicting deception from linguistic styles. Paper submitted for publication.

LIWC2001 Dimensions and Sample Words

DIMENSION	ABBREV.	EXAMPLES	# WORDS
I. STANDARD LINGUISTIC DIMENSIONS
Total pronouns	Pronoun	I, our, they, you're	70
1st person singular	I	I, my, me	9
1st person plural	We	we, our, us	11
Total first person	Self	I, we, me	20
Total second person	You	you, you'll	14
Total third person	Other	she, their, them	22
Negations	Negate	no, never, not	31
Assents	Assent	yes, OK, mmhmm	18
Articles	Article	a, an, the	3
Prepositions	Preps	on, to, from	43
Numbers	Number	one, thirty, million	29
II. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES
Affective or Emotional Processes	Affect	happy, ugly, bitter	615
Positive Emotions	Posemo	happy, pretty, good	261
Positive feelings	Posfeel	happy, joy, love	43
Optimism and energy	Optim	certainty, pride, win	69
Negative Emotions	Negemo	hate, worthless, enemy	345
Anxiety or fear	Anx	nervous, afraid, tense	62
Anger	Anger	hate, kill, pissed	121
Sadness or depression	Sad	grief, cry, sad	72
Cognitive Processes	Cogmech	cause, know, ought	312
Causation	Cause	because, effect, hence	49
Insight	Insight	think, know, consider	116
Discrepancy	Discrep	should, would, could	32
Inhibition	Inhib	block, constrain	64
Tentative	Tentat	maybe, perhaps, guess	79
Certainty	Certain	always, never	30
Sensory and Perceptual Processes	Senses	see, touch, listen	111
Seeing	See	view, saw, look	31
Hearing	Hear	heard, listen, sound	36
Feeling	Feel	touch, hold, felt	30
Social Processes	Social	talk, us, friend	314
Communication	Comm	talk, share, converse	124
Other references to people	Othref	1st pl, 2nd, 3rd per prns	54
Friends	Friends	pal, buddy, coworker	28
Family	Family	mom, brother, cousin	43
Humans	Humans	boy, woman, group	43
III. RELATIVITY
Time	Time	hour, day, oclock	113
Past tense verb	Past	walked, were, had	144
Present tense verb	Present	walk, is, be	256
Future tense verb	Future	will, might, shall	14
Space	Space	around, over, up	71
Up	Up	up, above, over	12
Down	Down	down, below, under	7
Inclusive	Incl	with, and, include	16
Exclusive	Excl	but, except, without	19
Motion	Motion	walk, move, go	73
IV. PERSONAL CONCERNS
Occupation	Occup	work, class, boss	213
School	School	class, student, college	100
Job or work	Job	employ, boss, career	62
Achievement	Achieve	try, goal, win	60
Leisure activity	Leisure	house, TV, music	102
Home	Home	house, kitchen, lawn	26
Sports	Sports	football, game, play	28
Television and movies	TV	TV, sitcom, cinema	19
Music	Music	tunes, song, cd	31
Money and financial issues	Money	cash, taxes, income	75
Metaphysical issues	Metaph	God, heaven, coffin	85
Religion	Relig	God, church, rabbi	56
Death and dying	Death	dead, burial, coffin	29
Physical states and functions	Physcal	ache, breast, sleep	285
Body states, symptoms	Body	ache, heart, cough	200
Sex and sexuality	Sexual	lust, penis, fuck	49
Eating, drinking, dieting	Eating	eat, swallow, taste	52
Sleeping, dreaming	Sleep	asleep, bed, dreams	21
Grooming	Groom	wash, bath, clean	15
APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL DIMENSIONS
Swear words	Swear	damn, fuck, piss	29
Nonfluencies	Nonfl	uh, rr*	6
Fillers	Fillers	youknow, Imean	6