ABSTRACT
Japanese referential and address kinship terminology may be differentiated. Referential kinship terms follow relatively common organizational parameters, with the major complication in the sphere of ingroup and outgroup distinctions. Although there are additional complications when a third person’s kin are being referred to, the basic dichotomy is between humble forms, used for ingroup (=first person), and elegant forms, used for outgroup (=second person). The complications for third person arise as a result of individual preferences in characterizing that person as an ingroup member or not [see, among others, Miller 1967:275ff].
