پارميس صادقي

Pronouns are deceptively simple words, yet they reveal profound aspects of identity, perspective, an‎d psychological state. Previous research has linked excessive first-person singular pronouns (“I-talk”) to depression, an‎d collective pronouns (“we-talk”) to relational closeness. However, few studies have systematically compared pronoun usage across diverse social roles such as presidents, CEOs, intellectuals, activists, influencers, criminals, an‎d individuals with mental illness. This study analyzes over fifty interview transcripts, speeches, an‎d published linguistic datasets to quantify pronoun frequencies (I, we, you, they, it) normalized per 1,000 words. Results indicate role-based “pronoun fingerprints”: politicians favor we/they to frame collective identity an‎d adversaries, CEOs emphasize I/it to balance personal leadership with technological systems, intellectuals blend you/it to engage audiences conceptually, influencers highlight I/you in self-narration an‎d audience bonding, activists elevate I/they to express struggle an‎d opposition, while criminals often overuse they to deflect blame. Mental illness transcripts, particularly depression, display heightened I-talk an‎d reduced collective references, consistent with psychological theories of self-focus. Overall, pronoun distributions vary predictably with role, era, an‎d psychological state, offering insights into communication strategies, mental health diagnostics, an‎d deception detection.

Pronoun , Psychology , lie detection , politics , leadership