Papers and TalksJournal articles
Aaron Braver and Nikki Lyssy (in prep). Making Ling 101 accessible for blind students.
Will Bennett, Aaron Braver, Camilla Christie, Tyler Miller, and Khethani Yende (under review). Click perception by Zulu listeners. Studies in African Linguistics.
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (in press). On the productivity of length-based alternations in Xhosa noun class prefixes. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies.
Stefano Coretta, Joseph V. Casillas, ..., Aaron Braver, ..., and Timo Roettger (2023). Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human speech analyses. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 6(3):1-29, doi:10.1177/25152459231162567. [link | pdf]
Will Bennett and Aaron Braver (2020). Different speakers, different grammars: Productivity and representation of Xhosa labial palatalization. Phonological Data and Analysis 2(6):1–29, doi:10.3765/pda.v2art6.9. [link | pdf]
Takehiro Iizuka, Kimi Nakatsukasa, and Aaron Braver (2020). The efficacy of gesture on second language pronunciation: An exploratory study of handclapping as a classroom instructional tool. Language Learning 70(4), doi:10.1111/lang.12415. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver (2019). Modelling incomplete neutralisation with weighted phonetic constraints. Phonology 36(1):1–36, doi:10.1017/S0952675719000022. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2016). Phonotactic c(l)ues to Bantu noun class disambiguation. Linguistics Vanguard 2(1):1–11, doi:10.1515/lingvan-2016-0062. [link | pdf]
Will Bennett and Aaron Braver (2015). The productivity of 'unnatural' labial palatalization in Xhosa. Nordlyd 42(1):33–44 (special issue on palatalization), doi:10.7557/12.3738. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver (2014). Imperceptible incomplete neutralization: Production, non-identifiability, and non-discriminability in American English flapping. Lingua 152:24–44, doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2014.09.004. [link | pdf]
Shigeto Kawahara and Aaron Braver (2014). Durational properties of emphatically lengthened consonants in Japanese. Journal of the International Phonetics Association 44(3):237–260, doi:10.1017/S0025100314000085. [link | pdf]
Shigeto Kawahara and Aaron Braver (2013). The phonetics of multiple vowel lengthening in Japanese. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics 3(2):141–148, doi:10.4236/ojml.2013.32019. [link | pdf]
Collections
Will Bennett and Aaron Braver (eds., in prep). Illustrating African Phonologies. Language Science Press.
Peter Staroverov, Daniel Altshuler, Aaron Braver, Carlos A. Fasola, and Sarah Murray (eds., 2010). Rutgers Working Papers in Linguistics (RuWPL) 3. LGSA, New Brunswick.
Book chapters
Will Bennett and Aaron Braver (under review). isiXhosa. In Bonny Sands, Anne-Maria Fehn, Didier Demolin and Maida Percival (eds.) Non-pulmonic Consonants (Studies in Phonetics and Phonology), University of Toronto Press.
Aaron Braver (in press). Mergers and neutralization. In Kuniya Nasukawa, Bridget Samuels, Geoffrey Schwartz, Miklós Törkenczy (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Phonology, Second Edition. (Revision of chapter by Alan C.L. Yu in the first edition.)
Proceedings/working papers
Aaron Braver (2023). Naturalness as a heuristic for (in)complete neutralization: Xhosa’s 'unnatural' labial palatalization. In Suet-Ying Lam and Satoru Ozaki (eds.) Proceedings of NELS 53, vol. 1, pp. 119–128. [link | pdf]
Peter H. Westfall, Andrea L. Arias, Aaron Braver, and Joshua Fredman (2020). You like day-tuh and I like daa-tuh; let's call the whole thing off! 2020 Proceedings of the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, & Education Conference. [pdf]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2016). Phonotactics of noun class disambiguation in Xhosa. In Gunnar Ólafur Hansson, Ashley Farris-Trimble, Kevin McMullin, and Douglas Pulleyblank (eds.) Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Meeting on Phonology. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2016). Incomplete neutralization in Japanese monomoraic lengthening. In Adam Albright and Michelle A. Fullwood (eds.) Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting on Phonology. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver, Natalie Dresher, and Shigeto Kawahara (2016). The phonetics of emphatic vowel lengthening in English. In Adam Albright and Michelle A. Fullwood (eds.) Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting on Phonology. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2015). Incomplete neutralization via paradigm uniformity and weighted constraints. In Thuy Bui and Deniz Özyıldız (eds.) NELS 45 Proceedings vol. 1, pp. 115–124. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2014). Incomplete vowel lengthening in Japanese: A first study. In Robert E. Santana-LaBarge (ed.) WCCFL 31 Proceedings, pp. 86–95. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver (2013). Perception of incompletely neutralized /d/ and /t/ flaps in American English. In Stefan Keine and Shayne Sloggett (eds.) NELS 42 Proceedings, vol. 1, pp. 93–104. [link | pdf]
Aaron Braver (2011). Incomplete Neutralization in American English Flapping: A Production Study. In Proceedings of PLC 34, University of Pennsylvania Working Papers 17(1):31–40. [link | pdf]
Manuscripts/other
Aaron Braver (2013). Degrees of incompleteness in neutralization: Paradigm uniformity in a phonetics with weighted constraints. Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University. [pdf]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2013). Incomplete neutralization of a vocalic length contrast in Japanese. [pdf]
Aaron Braver (2007). An account of N-Drop in Spanish: Empirical evidence and analysis. Senior honors thesis, Brandeis University. [available upon request]
Talks, presentations, and posters
2026
Selina Wayimba, Aaron Braver, and Will Bennett (upcoming, 2026). Two types of Swahili NC sequences: Acoustic, aerodynamic, and EGG evidence. Poster presented at the 11th International Conference on Bantu Languages (Bantu 11), Ghent, Belgium.
Selina Wayimba, Aaron Braver, and Will Bennett (upcoming, 2026). An emergent contrast in Swahili: Prenasalized mb and cluster m.b. Poster presented at the 20th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 20), Montreal.
Aaron Braver, Will Bennett, and Didier Demolin (2026). On the EGG signature of clicks in South African languages. Paper presented at the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57), Buffalo. [slides]
Aaron Braver, Will Bennett, Camilla Rose Christie, and Khethani Yende (2026). Click perception by native and non-native click users: A large-scale web-based perception study. Paper presented at the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57), Buffalo. [slides]
2025
Selina Wayimba, Aaron Braver, and Will Bennett (2025). True and false prenasalised consonants in Swahili. Paper presented at the 13th Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP 13), Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. [slides]
Aaron Braver, Will Bennett, Camilla Christie, Tyler Miller, and Khethani Yende (2025). Click perception in Nguni: New experimental evidence. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 56), University of Minnesota. [slides]
Will Bennett, Aaron Braver, Tyler Miller, Khethani Yende, and Camilla Christie (2025). Click perception experiments in Xhosa and Zulu. Paper presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2025), Philadelphia. [slides]
2024
Mark de Vos, Will Bennett, Paige Cox, and Aaron Braver (2024). Anomalous L2 syllable count judgments. Paper presented at the 12th Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP 12), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. [slides]
Aaron Braver (2024). Making Ling 101 accessible for blind students. WashU Linguistics Colloquium, Washington University in St. Louis. [slides]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2024). Acoustic and EGG examination of trilled stops in isiMpondo. Paper presented at the 55th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 55), Montreal. [slides]
2023
Aaron Braver (2023). Degree of neutralization in Xhosa's 'unnatural' labial palatalization. Poster presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS 53), University of Göttingen, Germany. [poster]
Aaron Braver (2023). Neutralization in an unnatural process: Labial palatalization in Xhosa. Poster presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2023), Denver. [poster]
2020
Aaron Braver (2020). Incomplete neutralization with weighted phonetic constraints. Michigan State University Phono Group. [slides]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2020). Perception of fine-grained duration distinctions: Evidence from English pragmatic emphasis. Poster presented at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2020), New Orleans. [poster]
2019
Kimi Nakatsukasa, Aaron Braver, and Miranda Scolari (2019). Attending to a gesturing avatar facilitates perception of L2 phonology: An eye-tracking study. Paper presented at the 2019 American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference (AAAL 2019), Atlanta.
Kimi Nakatsukasa, Aaron Braver, and Miranda Scolari (2019). Gestures' limited effect on L2 phonology development: An eye-tracking study. Paper presented at the 2019 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2019), Michigan State University.
Aaron Braver (2019). Neutralization in Xhosa's 'unnatural' labial palatalization. Paper presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2019), New York. [slides]
Liang Guangsheng, Vinh T. Nguyen, Kimi Nakatsukasa, Aaron Braver, Tommy Dang, and Miranda Scolari (2019). Multisensory integration of visual and auditory signals during second language learning. Poster presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS 2019), St. Pete Beach, Florida. [poster]
2018
Kimi Nakatsukasa, Aaron Braver, and Miranda Scolari (2018). Attention in computer-mediated learning: Avatars' gestures in learning vowel length contrasts. Paper presented at the 2018 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2018), Université du Québec à Montréal.
Aaron Braver (2018). Gesturing avatars in computer-mediated learning of vowel length contrasts. Keynote talk, 7th Annual Conference for Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Communication in Higher Education (CALICHE) 2018, Texas Tech University. [slides]
Aaron Braver (2018). Neutralization of underlying vs. derived 'unnatural' palatals in Xhosa. Poster presented at the 176th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA 176), Victoria, BC, Canada.
Aaron Braver (2018). Underlying vs. derived palatals in Xhosa: Neutralization of an 'unnatural' pattern. Poster presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2018), UC San Diego.
Aaron Braver (2018). Pedagogical gestures in computer-mediated language learning. University of Calgary.
2017
Aaron Braver (2017). How do you whisper a click? Acoustic correlates of click voicing in whispered speech. Paper presented at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2017), Austin, TX. [slides]
Aaron Braver and Seunghun J. Lee (2017). Perceiving non-native contrasts: Xitsonga's 'whistled' fricative vs. [ʃ]. Poster presented at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2017), Austin, TX.
2016
Takehiro Iizuka, Kimi Nakatsukasa, Aaron Braver, and Andrew Farley (2016). Bridge between syllabic and moraic languages: Does gesture help pronunciation learning?. Paper presented at the 35th Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2016), Columbia University.
Aaron Braver and Seunghun J. Lee (2016). An anti-dispersive contrast: Xitsonga's 'whistled' fricative vs. [ʃ]. Poster presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2016), USC. [poster]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2016). Length-based allomorphy in Xhosa noun class prefixes. Paper presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2016), Washington, D.C. [handout]
2015
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2015). Abstract morphological information cued by phonotactics: Noun class disambiguation in Xhosa. Poster presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2015), Vancouver. [poster]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2015). Using root shape to choose among prefixes in Xhosa. Colloquium talk, Seoul National University. [handout]
Danica Kreusch, Will Bennett, and Aaron Braver (2015). Disambiguating isiXhosa noun classes with phonotactic c(l)ues. Paper presented at the 8th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL 8), Kyoto. [handout]
Kelly Goldstuck, Will Bennett, and Aaron Braver (2015). Experimentally assessing length-based noun prefix alternations in isiXhosa. Paper presented at the 8th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL 8), Kyoto. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2015). Phonology or morphology: Inter-speaker differences in Xhosa labial palatalization. Paper presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2015), Portland, Oregon. [handout]
2014
Will Bennett and Aaron Braver (2014). Wug-testing a case of 'unnatural' labial palatalization in Xhosa. Paper presented at the Palatalization Conference, University of Tromsø. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Seunghun J. Lee (2014). Perceiving small contrasts: Xitsonga's 'whistled' fricative vs. [ʃ]. Paper presented at the 3rd Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP 3), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Will Bennett (2014). Wug-testing bilabial palatalization in isiXhosa passivized verbs. Paper presented at the 3rd Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP 3), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2014). Incomplete neutralization via paradigm uniformity and weighted constraints. Poster presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistics Society (NELS 45), MIT. [handout | poster]
Aaron Braver (2014). What does emphatic lengthening tell us about binary length distinctions? Invited talk, Cognitive Science Brown Bag, Texas Tech University. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2014). Modeling incomplete neutralization: Paradigm uniformity and a phonetics with weighted constraints. Poster presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2014), MIT.
Aaron Braver, Natalie Dresher, and Shigeto Kawahara (2014). The phonetics of emphatic vowel lengthening in English. Poster presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting on Phonology (AMP 2014), MIT. [handout | poster]
2013
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2013). Japanese monomoraic vowel lengthening as incomplete neutralization. Paper presented at the 19th International Congress of Linguists (ICL 19), Geneva.
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2013). Incomplete vowel lengthening: Japanese monomoraic lengthening as incomplete neutralization. Paper presented at the 31st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 31), Arizona State University. [handout]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2013). Incomplete neutralization of Japanese vowel length in monomoraic nouns. Poster presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA 2013), Boston, MA. [poster]
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2013). Monomoraic lengthening in Japanese as incomplete neutralization. Tokyo Circle of Phonologists, University of Tokyo. [handout]
2012
Aaron Braver and Shigeto Kawahara (2012). Monomoraic lengthening in Japanese as incomplete neutralization. Colloquium talk, Seoul National University.
2011
Aaron Braver (2011). Perception of incompletely neutralized /d/ and /t/ flaps in American English. Poster presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS 42), University of Toronto. [poster | handout]
Aaron Braver (2011). (Im)perceptible incomplete neutralization: Two experiments on flapping in American English. Paper presented at the Rutgers, UMass, MIT phonology and phonetics workshop (RUMMIT II), Rutgers University. [handout]
Aaron Braver (2011). Perception of /t/ and /d/ flaps in American English: Some preliminary results. Paper presented at the Rutgers University Linguistics Conference (RULing VI), Rutgers University.
2010
Aaron Braver (2010). Incomplete neutralization in American English flapping: A production study. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium (PLC 34), University of Pennsylvania.
Aaron Braver (2010). Incomplete neutralization in American English flapping. Poster presented at the 12th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 12), University of New Mexico.
Aaron Braver (2010). Is there incomplete neutralization in American English flapping? Poster presented at the 18th Manchester Phonology Meeting (18mfm), University of Manchester.
Aaron Braver (2010). Variation in (in)complete neutralization: American English flapping. Paper presented at the Rutgers University Linguistics Conference (RULing V), Rutgers University.
2009
Aaron Braver (2009). A task effect on incomplete neutralization? Paper presented at the UMass/MIT Meeting of Phonologists (UMMM), University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [handout]
Aaron Braver (2009). Restrictions on DP-internal ellipsis in Spanish. Paper presented at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2009), San Juan, Puerto Rico. [handout]
Aaron Braver (2009). DP-internal ellipsis in Spanish. Paper presented at the Rutgers University Linguistics Conference (RULing IV), Rutgers University. [handout]
2008
Aaron Braver (2008). Phonetic opacity: Flapping and vowel length in American English. Paper presented at the Rutgers University Linguistics Conference (RULing III), Rutgers University.
Aaron Braver (2008). Does phonological output contain morphological structure? Evidence from Consistency of Exponence and fine phonetic details. Paper presented at the Hopkins-UMD-Rutgers-UMass joint meeting (HUMDRUM 2008), Rutgers University. [handout]
2007
Aaron Braver (2007). Is N-drop NP ellipsis? Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium at Harvard, Harvard University.