By applying Symbolic Interactionist Role Theory, Japanese (plus or minus) speech level shifts are categorised as the linguistic realisation of an improvised interactional (here ‘dissociative’) role, when the speaker perceives a psychological change in relation to the other participant in the ongoing interaction. Plus-level shifts follow the primary nature of honorifics. Minus-level shifts provoke empathy or pull the other into the speaker’s world. The interactants’ original (‘social) roles when the situation is determined, endure across the discourse and interactants are fully aware of them.