Conditional respect and criminal identity: The use of personal address terms in japanese mass media

Studies of language in mass media reports of crime stories until now have been dominated by perspectives of researchers in the United States and Europe, and none have focused on the strategic employment of personal references. In this essay I examine the use of personal address terms by Japan's mass media in two case studies of reports of sensational crimes. I argue that in Japan the concept of conditional respect provides insight into mass media-generated language and social identity processes grounded in observable social practice.