Here is a pretty easy way to do it.
val data = List("it", "was", "the", "best", "of", "times", "it", "was",
"the", "worst", "of", "times")
data.foldLeft(Map[String,Int]().withDefaultValue(0)){
case (acc, letter) =>
acc + (letter -> (1 + acc(letter)))
}
// => Map(worst -> 1, best -> 1, it -> 2, was -> 2, times -> 2, of -> 2, the -> 2)