<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This study explored the linguistic patterns and discourse on suicide of the Swedish artist Avicii. Focusing on key events in his life, career, and compositions, a triangulation of data sources was employed grounded on psychobiographical research framework and corpus-based discourse analysis. Texts with reference to suicidal risk factors were then evaluated based on the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide to establish linguistic representations of emotional distress and suicidal ideation. The findings suggest that lexical features associated with mental health struggles, that is, high volume of first-person deixis and death-themed linguistic references, were evident in his writing. There were substantial implications of his predisposition to mental stress and his call for help, his S.O.S. This study helps in further understanding the language and discourse of artists like Avicii on the immense dislocation of emotions and the complexities of navigating (inter)personal relationships.</p>
</abstract>

This study explored the linguistic patterns and discourse on suicide of the Swedish artist Avicii. Focusing on key events in his life, career, and compositions, a triangulation of data sources was employed grounded on psychobiographical research framework and corpus-based discourse analysis. Texts with reference to suicidal risk factors were then evaluated based on the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide to establish linguistic representations of emotional distress and suicidal ideation. The findings suggest that lexical features associated with mental health struggles, that is, high volume of first-person deixis and death-themed linguistic references, were evident in his writing. There were substantial implications of his predisposition to mental stress and his call for help, his S.O.S. This study helps in further understanding the language and discourse of artists like Avicii on the immense dislocation of emotions and the complexities of navigating (inter)personal relationships.

Avicii’s S.O.S.: A psychobiographical approach and corpus-based discourse analysis on suicidal ideation

Hanoi University of Science and Technology

Psychology of Language and Communication

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This study explored the linguistic patterns and discourse on suicide of the Swedish artist Avicii. Focusing on key events in his life, career, and...

Avicii’s S.O.S.: A psychobiographical approach and corpus-based discourse analysis on suicidal ideation

Published Online: Aug 02, 2022

Page range: 207 - 241

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2022-0010

Keywords
suicide, corpus discourse analysis, interpersonal theory, mental health, psychobiographical

© 2022 Aiden Yeh et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Avicii’s S.O.S.: A psychobiographical approach and corpus-based discourse analysis on suicidal ideation

Published Online: Aug 02, 2022

Page range: 207 - 241

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2022-0010

Keywordssuicide, corpus discourse analysis, interpersonal theory, mental health, psychobiographical

© 2022 Aiden Yeh et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
suicide, corpus discourse analysis, interpersonal theory, mental health, psychobiographical