ABSTRACT
In light of infraphonological interpretation, protophones have come to be recognized as a set of universal developmental forms, viewed as a flowering foundation for speech. The protophones increasingly tend to be seen as growing and maturing in the way other biological systems grow and mature. There is increased interest in the biological foundations for protophones and clarification of the ways that experience affects the unfolding of the natural speech capacity. To evaluate infant vocalizations in terms of both nature and nurture, it is useful to take a step back and look at babbling in the context of other developmental phenomena.
