Bye Bye I Love You

"An exploration of the first words and last words of life, written by a linguistically-trained trade author"--

Contents
Prelude. Into the Puckerbrush
Introduction
A List of Questions
A Note on Sources
Chapter 1. The Four Expectations
Chapter 2. The Story of a First Word (or Why We Pay Attention to First Words at All)
Chapter 3. The First First Word
Chapter 4. The Truth about “ Mama"
Chapter 5. The Normal First Word
Conclusion, Part 1. Ritual, Sincerity, and the First Word
Interlude. A Year at the MPI
Chapter 6. How Do We Really Communicate at the End of Our Lives?
Chapter 7. William Osler and “ The Study of the Act of Dying”
Chapter 8. The Linguistic Powers of the Dying
Chapter 9. Death Resists
Chapter 10. Beyond Last Words
Chapter 11. A Linguistics of Last Words
Conclusion
Epilogue. Back to the Puckerbrush
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Further Reading & Selected Sources