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Out of the mouths of babes . . . and beaks of birds? A broader interpretation of the frame/content theory for the evolution of speech production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 1998

Irene M. Pepperberg
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Psychology, Program in Neurosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 impepper@u.arizona.edu

Abstract

Much of the material MacNeilage cites to support his frame/content theory for the evolution of speech production in humans is not unique to mammals. Parallels can be drawn for comparable evolution of vocal flexibility (specifically the reproduction of human speech) in birds. I describe several such parallels and conclude that MacNeilage's hypotheses may have broader application than he envisioned.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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