Overview
With our earliest utterances, we announce ourselves--and are recognized--as persons ready for social life. With our final ones, we mark where others must release us to death's embrace. In Bye Bye I Love You, linguist and author Michael Erard explores these phenomena, commonly called ""first words"" and ""last words,"" uncovering their cultural, historical, and biological entanglements and honoring their deep private significance. Erard draws from personal, historical, and anthropological sources to provide a sense of the breadth of beliefs and practices about these phenomena across eras, religions, and cultures around the world. What do babies' first words have in common? How do people really communicate at the end of life? In the first half of the book, Erard tells the story of first words in human development and evolution, and how the attention to children's early language--a modern phenomenon--arose. In the second half, he provides a groundbreaking overview of language at the end of life and the cultural conventions that surround it. Throughout he reveals the many parallels and asymmetries between first and last words and asks whether we might be able to use a linguistic understanding of end of life to discover what we truly want.
Full Product Details
Author: Michael Erard ,
Michael Erard ,
Stephen Caffrey ,
Stephen Caffrey
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Imprint: Tantor Audio
Edition: Unabridged edition
ISBN: 9798228539891
Publication Date: 11 March 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Stephen Caffrey has been a stage actor in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country for over thirty years. On film and television he directed and starred in the series Tour of Duty for over three seasons on CBS. He received an Emmy nomination for his year on All my Children. He has had leading roles in many TV movies and miniseries, as well as the Sundance Film Festival winner Longtime Companion. He also has had numerous guest star appearances, including on the famous ""Yada Yada"" episode of Seinfeld. He was more recently seen in Bosch, Cinema Verite on HBO, and recurring on NBC's American Odyssey. His stage work includes shows at New York Theatre Workshop, Classic Stage Co., Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Geva, Seattle Rep., Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep., Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Royal George/Chicago, and many others. Stephen Caffrey has been a stage actor in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country for over thirty years. On film and television he directed and starred in the series Tour of Duty for over three seasons on CBS. He received an Emmy nomination for his year on All my Children. He has had leading roles in many TV movies and miniseries, as well as the Sundance Film Festival winner Longtime Companion. He also has had numerous guest star appearances, including on the famous ""Yada Yada"" episode of Seinfeld. He was more recently seen in Bosch, Cinema Verite on HBO, and recurring on NBC's American Odyssey. His stage work includes shows at New York Theatre Workshop, Classic Stage Co., Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Geva, Seattle Rep., Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep., Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Royal George/Chicago, and many others.
