ABSTRACT
The Frame/Content (F/C) theory (MacNeilage, 1998a) attempts to explain the
evolution and acquisition of speech. It says, in brief, that speech was made
possible by our evolving the capacity to program syllabic “Frames” with
consonantal and vocalic “Content” elements, and that the acquisition of that
capacity in infants is the key window into how this happened. This theory owes
much to four perspectives.
