ABSTRACT
Although we have many ways to communicate our thoughts and feelings, words provide the primary way we make our thoughts known, both to ourselves and to others. The specific words we select, the way we frame our thoughts, the ideas we choose to convey (and those we choose not to disclose) are obviously important elements of communicating a message. However, the less noticeable aspects of language can reveal a great deal about us beyond the specifics of what we express, including information about our gender or age, our level of dominance within a relationship, the likelihood that we will or will not successfully recover from a traumatic experience, and whether we are depressed or suicidal. While this information is sometimes conveyed directly, it is also communicated in a nearly transparent fashion, through the small and apparently insignificant words we use in our sentences to hold the nouns and verbs together.
