Japanese question

[owlmoose]

So I started Fruits Basket (just a few pages in, but it's definitely promising). I know people have explained this to me before, but I'm already getting lost with all the forms of address in Japanese. My understanding is that -san denotes respect and -chan denotes affection (and I realize I'm probably missing all sorts of nuances there), but what does -kun mean? Are there others I need to remember?

Comments

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

-san is typically generic usage. In my Japanese class, all the students were addressed as their last name + san, as in Smith-san or the like.

-chan and -kun are diminuitive forms. -chan is used towards females and children, while -kun is used for males, usually younger than, close to, or inferior to (in social position) than the speaker.

Usually, any title that denotes respect will be used in place of 'san'. A doctor or teacher will be referred to as 'sensei,' for example, instead of -san, and someone's superior at work will be referred to by their title.

If memory from Japanese class serves.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! :) -Kun is being used pretty generally for boys in the manga, although mostly by girls, which I think is probably telling as far as language and gender dynamcs go. Interesting stuff.