diff --git a/documentation/.gitignore b/documentation/.gitignore
index 494b4f4de5..b23d598054 100644
--- a/documentation/.gitignore
+++ b/documentation/.gitignore
@@ -7,3 +7,5 @@ releases.rst
 .vscode/
 */svg/*.png
 */svg/*.pdf
+styles/*
+!styles/config
diff --git a/documentation/.vale.ini b/documentation/.vale.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..02042bb632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/.vale.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+StylesPath = styles
+MinAlertLevel = suggestion
+Packages = RedHat, proselint, write-good, alex, Readability, Joblint
+Vocab = Yocto, OpenSource
+[*.rst]
+BasedOnStyles = Vale, RedHat, proselint, write-good, alex, Readability, Joblint
+
diff --git a/documentation/Makefile b/documentation/Makefile
index 9fb6814c8f..60268e955c 100644
--- a/documentation/Makefile
+++ b/documentation/Makefile
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 # from the environment for the first two.
 SPHINXOPTS    ?= -W --keep-going -j auto
 SPHINXBUILD   ?= sphinx-build
+# Release notes are excluded because they contain contributor names and commit messages which can't be modified
+VALEOPTS      ?= --no-wrap --glob '!migration-guides/release-notes-*.rst'
+VALEDOCS      ?= .
 SOURCEDIR     = .
 IMAGEDIRS     = */svg
 BUILDDIR      = _build
@@ -20,7 +23,7 @@ endif
 help:
 	@$(SPHINXBUILD) -M help "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)
 
-.PHONY: all help Makefile clean publish epub latexpdf
+.PHONY: all help Makefile clean stylecheck publish epub latexpdf
 
 publish: Makefile html singlehtml
 	rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)/$(DESTDIR)/
@@ -46,6 +49,10 @@ PNGs := $(foreach dir, $(IMAGEDIRS), $(patsubst %.svg,%.png,$(wildcard $(SOURCED
 clean:
 	@rm -rf $(BUILDDIR) $(PNGs) $(PDFs) poky.yaml sphinx-static/switchers.js
 
+stylecheck:
+	vale sync
+	vale $(VALEOPTS) $(VALEDOCS)
+
 epub: $(PNGs)
 	$(SOURCEDIR)/set_versions.py
 	@$(SPHINXBUILD) -M $@ "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)
diff --git a/documentation/README b/documentation/README
index 4d31036e69..8035418cac 100644
--- a/documentation/README
+++ b/documentation/README
@@ -151,6 +151,20 @@ dependencies in a virtual environment:
  $ pipenv install
  $ pipenv run make html
 
+Style checking the Yocto Project documentation
+==============================================
+
+The project is starting to use Vale (https://vale.sh/)
+to validate the text style.
+
+To install Vale:
+
+ $ pip install vale
+
+To run Vale:
+
+ $ make stylecheck
+
 Sphinx theme and CSS customization
 ==================================
 
diff --git a/documentation/standards.md b/documentation/standards.md
index 9f4771ebd9..e0c0cba83c 100644
--- a/documentation/standards.md
+++ b/documentation/standards.md
@@ -5,6 +5,21 @@ documentation is created.
 
 It is currently a work in progress.
 
+## Automatic style validation
+
+There is an ongoing effort to automate style validation
+through the [Vale](https://vale.sh/). To try it, run:
+
+    $ make stylecheck
+
+Note that this just applies to text. Therefore, the syntax
+conventions described below still apply.
+
+If you wish to add a new word to an "accept.txt" file
+(./styles/config/vocabularies/<Vocab>/accept.txt),
+make sure the spelling and capitalization matches
+what Wikipedia or the project defining this word uses.
+
 ## Text standards
 
 ### Bulleted lists
diff --git a/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/OpenSource/accept.txt b/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/OpenSource/accept.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98e76ae1f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/OpenSource/accept.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+ftrace
+toolchain
+systemd
+LTTng
diff --git a/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/Yocto/accept.txt b/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/Yocto/accept.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b725414014
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/styles/config/vocabularies/Yocto/accept.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Yocto
+BSP
+BitBake
+OpenEmbedded