Embeddings and frames of function spaces

For every Tychonoff space X we denote by Cp(X) the set of all continuous real-valued functions on X with the pointwise convergence topology, i.e., the topology of subspace of RX. A set P is a frame for the space Cp(X) if Cp(X)⊂P⊂RX. We prove that if Cp(X) embeds in a σ-compact space of countable tightness then X is countable. This shows that it is natural to study when Cp(X) has a frame of countable tightness with some compactness-like property. We prove, among other things, that if X is compact and the space Cp(X) has a Lindelöf frame of countable tightness then t(X)⩽ω. We give some generalizations of this result for the case of frames as well as for embeddings of Cp(X) in arbitrary spaces.