diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4a7ea415..6f8a3993 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Linguist supports a number of different custom overrides strategies for language
 
 ### Using gitattributes
 
-Add a `.gitattributes` file to your project and use standard git-style path matchers for the files you want to override to set `linguist-language` and `linguist-vendored`.
+Add a `.gitattributes` file to your project and use standard git-style path matchers for the files you want to override to set `linguist-documentation`, `linguist-language`, and `linguist-vendored`.
 
 ```
 $ cat .gitattributes
@@ -43,6 +43,16 @@ special-vendored-path/* linguist-vendored
 jquery.js linguist-vendored=false
 ```
 
+Similar to vendored files, Linguist excludes documentation files from your project's language stats. [lib/linguist/documentation.yml](lib/linguist/documentation.yml) lists common documentation paths and excludes them from the language statistics for your repository.
+
+Use the `linguist-documentation` attribute to mark or unmark paths as documentation.
+
+```
+$ cat .gitattributes
+project-docs/* linguist-documentation
+docs/formatter.rb linguist-documentation=false
+```
+
 ### Using Emacs and Vim modelines
 
 Alternatively, you can use Vim and Emacs style modelines to set the language for a single file. Modelines can be placed anywhere within a file and are respected when determining how to syntax-highlight a file on GitHub.com
diff --git a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
index c368b4d0..ff11aefd 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
@@ -236,6 +236,21 @@ module Linguist
       name =~ VendoredRegexp ? true : false
     end
 
+    documentation_paths = YAML.load_file(File.expand_path("../documentation.yml", __FILE__))
+    DocumentationRegexp = Regexp.new(documentation_paths.join('|'))
+
+    # Public: Is the blob in a documentation directory?
+    #
+    # Documentation files are ignored by language statistics.
+    #
+    # See "documentation.yml" for a list of documentation conventions that match
+    # this pattern.
+    #
+    # Return true or false
+    def documentation?
+      name =~ DocumentationRegexp ? true : false
+    end
+
     # Public: Get each line of data
     #
     # Requires Blob#data
diff --git a/lib/linguist/documentation.yml b/lib/linguist/documentation.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..57fc6151
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/linguist/documentation.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Documentation files and directories are excluded from language
+# statistics.
+#
+# Lines in this file are Regexps that are matched against the file
+# pathname.
+#
+# Please add additional test coverage to
+# `test/test_blob.rb#test_documentation` if you make any changes.
+
+## Documentation Conventions ##
+
+- ^docs?/
+- ^Documentation/
+
+- (^|/)CONTRIBUTING(\.|$)
+- (^|/)COPYING(\.|$)
+- (^|/)LICEN[CS]E(\.|$)
+- (^|/)README(\.|$)
diff --git a/lib/linguist/lazy_blob.rb b/lib/linguist/lazy_blob.rb
index 9691bca5..5465a71f 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/lazy_blob.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/lazy_blob.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ require 'rugged'
 
 module Linguist
   class LazyBlob
-    GIT_ATTR = ['linguist-language', 'linguist-vendored']
+    GIT_ATTR = ['linguist-documentation', 'linguist-language', 'linguist-vendored']
     GIT_ATTR_OPTS = { :priority => [:index], :skip_system => true }
     GIT_ATTR_FLAGS = Rugged::Repository::Attributes.parse_opts(GIT_ATTR_OPTS)
 
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ module Linguist
       end
     end
 
+    def documentation?
+      if attr = git_attributes['linguist-documentation']
+        boolean_attribute(attr)
+      else
+        super
+      end
+    end
+
     def language
       return @language if defined?(@language)
 
diff --git a/lib/linguist/repository.rb b/lib/linguist/repository.rb
index 3c197fad..3837977f 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/repository.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/repository.rb
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ module Linguist
           blob = Linguist::LazyBlob.new(repository, delta.new_file[:oid], new, mode.to_s(8))
 
           # Skip vendored or generated blobs
-          next if blob.vendored? || blob.generated? || blob.language.nil?
+          next if blob.vendored? || blob.documentation? || blob.generated? || blob.language.nil?
 
           if DETECTABLE_TYPES.include?(blob.language.type)
             file_map[new] = [blob.language.group.name, blob.size]
diff --git a/test/test_blob.rb b/test/test_blob.rb
index ceb54bb3..fabd5a74 100644
--- a/test/test_blob.rb
+++ b/test/test_blob.rb
@@ -441,6 +441,38 @@ class TestBlob < Minitest::Test
     assert sample_blob("subproject/activator.bat").vendored?
   end
 
+  def test_documentation
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("doc/foo.md"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("docs/foo.md"), :documentation?
+    refute_predicate fixture_blob("project/doc/foo.md"), :documentation?
+    refute_predicate fixture_blob("project/docs/foo.md"), :documentation?
+
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("Documentation/foo.md"), :documentation?
+    refute_predicate fixture_blob("project/Documentation/foo.md"), :documentation?
+
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("README"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("README.md"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("README.txt"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("foo/README"), :documentation?
+
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("CONTRIBUTING"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("CONTRIBUTING.md"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("CONTRIBUTING.txt"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("foo/CONTRIBUTING"), :documentation?
+
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("LICENSE"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("LICENCE.md"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("LICENSE.txt"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("foo/LICENSE"), :documentation?
+
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("COPYING"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("COPYING.md"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("COPYING.txt"), :documentation?
+    assert_predicate fixture_blob("foo/COPYING"), :documentation?
+
+    refute_predicate fixture_blob("foo.md"), :documentation?
+  end
+
   def test_language
     Samples.each do |sample|
       blob = sample_blob(sample[:path])
diff --git a/test/test_repository.rb b/test/test_repository.rb
index b661668d..fcdd4f0c 100644
--- a/test/test_repository.rb
+++ b/test/test_repository.rb
@@ -99,4 +99,16 @@ class TestRepository < Minitest::Test
     # overridden .gitattributes
     assert !override_unvendored.vendored?
   end
+
+  def test_linguist_override_documentation?
+    attr_commit = "d4c8fb8a28e91f97a7e53428a365c0abbac36d3d"
+    repo = linguist_repo(attr_commit).read_index
+
+    readme = Linguist::LazyBlob.new(rugged_repository, attr_commit, "README.md")
+    arduino = Linguist::LazyBlob.new(rugged_repository, attr_commit, "samples/Arduino/hello.ino")
+
+    # overridden by .gitattributes
+    refute_predicate readme, :documentation?
+    assert_predicate arduino, :documentation?
+  end
 end