Aaron Braver
Biographic Data
| ID | 140648 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aaron Braver |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aaron |
| FAMILY NAME | Braver |
| SIGNATURE | BRAVER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas Tech University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8532-0473 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Efficacy of Gesture on Second Language Pronunciation
In this study, we examined the efficacy of gestures for the acquisition of L2 segmental phonology. Despite teachers' frequent use of gestures in the classroom to teach pronunciation, the field lacks empirical support for this practice. We attempted to fill this gap by investigating the effects of handclapping on the development of L2 Japanese segmentals (long vowels, geminates, and moraic nasals). We assigned L1 English university students in beg…
Modelling incomplete neutralisation with weighted phonetic constraints
Incomplete neutralisation presents a problem for classical modular feed-forward grammars: it results in surface phonetic distinctions between phonologically neutralised segments. This paper argues for a model of incomplete neutralisation using two independently motivated theoretical devices: paradigm uniformity and weighted phonetic constraints. A case study is presented, showing that Japanese monomoraic lengthening results in incomplete neutrali…
Phonotactic c(l)ues to Bantu noun class disambiguation
While a number of phonologists assume that phonotactics can provide clues to abstract morphological information, this possibility has largely gone unconsidered in work on Bantu noun classes. We present experimental evidence from isiXhosa (a Bantu language of the Nguni family, from South Africa), showing that speakers make use of root phonotactics when assigning noun classes to nonce words. Nouns in Xhosa bear class-indicating prefixes, but some o…
Incomplete Neutralization in Japanese Monomoraic Lengthening
Incomplete neutralization (IN) (Port et al. 1981, Fourakis & Iverson 1984, Port & O’Dell 1985) refers to cases in which two underlyingly distinct segments become nearly identical on the surface. IN has posed a challenge for traditional views of the phonetics-phonology interface. While classical modular feedforward architectures (e.g. Chomsky & Halle 1968, Bermúdez-Otero 2007) generally do not allow underlying phonological representations to direc…
Phonotactics of noun class disambiguation in Xhosa
Bantu languages are noted for their noun class systems. These noun classes tend to connect to semantic domains: e.g., humans are prototypically in classes 1 and 2. We present an experiment in which native speakers of Xhosa were shown singular nonce nouns with no semantic context, and were asked to provide the plural forms. These nouns were shown with the singular class prefix –i, which is ambiguous between class 5 and class 9. Historically, class…
The Phonetics of Emphatic Vowel Lengthening in English
While many languages show lexical contrasts based on duration in vowels and consonants, such lexical durational contrasts are usually limited to binary distinctions (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996). Within the phonetically-driven phonology approach (Hayes and Steraide 2004), one explanation for this fact is that, in the spirit of Dispersion Theory (Liljencrants & Lindblom 1972, Lindblom 1986), listeners have difficulty perceiving contrasts that are a…
Imperceptible incomplete neutralization
Durational properties of emphatically lengthened consonants in Japanese
Languages can make use of phonetic duration to signal two kinds of meanings. The first is a lexical, phonological contrast. For example, in Japanese [kata] with a short [t] means 'frame' and [katta] with a long [tt] means 'bought'. This sort of contrast is usually limited to a binary distinction, and its phonetic properties have been well studied for many diverse languages. The other use of phonetic duration is to express pragmatic emphasis. Spea…
Imperceptible incomplete neutralization
The Efficacy of Gesture on Second Language Pronunciation
In this study, we examined the efficacy of gestures for the acquisition of L2 segmental phonology. Despite teachers' frequent use of gestures in the classroom to teach pronunciation, the field lacks empirical support for this practice. We attempted to fill this gap by investigating the effects of handclapping on the development of L2 Japanese segmentals (long vowels, geminates, and moraic nasals). We assigned L1 English university students in beg…
Durational properties of emphatically lengthened consonants in Japanese
Languages can make use of phonetic duration to signal two kinds of meanings. The first is a lexical, phonological contrast. For example, in Japanese [kata] with a short [t] means 'frame' and [katta] with a long [tt] means 'bought'. This sort of contrast is usually limited to a binary distinction, and its phonetic properties have been well studied for many diverse languages. The other use of phonetic duration is to express pragmatic emphasis. Spea…
Imperceptible incomplete neutralization
Durational properties of emphatically lengthened consonants in Japanese
Languages can make use of phonetic duration to signal two kinds of meanings. The first is a lexical, phonological contrast. For example, in Japanese [kata] with a short [t] means 'frame' and [katta] with a long [tt] means 'bought'. This sort of contrast is usually limited to a binary distinction, and its phonetic properties have been well studied for many diverse languages. The other use of phonetic duration is to express pragmatic emphasis. Spea…
Phonotactic c(l)ues to Bantu noun class disambiguation
While a number of phonologists assume that phonotactics can provide clues to abstract morphological information, this possibility has largely gone unconsidered in work on Bantu noun classes. We present experimental evidence from isiXhosa (a Bantu language of the Nguni family, from South Africa), showing that speakers make use of root phonotactics when assigning noun classes to nonce words. Nouns in Xhosa bear class-indicating prefixes, but some o…
Incomplete Neutralization in Japanese Monomoraic Lengthening
Incomplete neutralization (IN) (Port et al. 1981, Fourakis & Iverson 1984, Port & O’Dell 1985) refers to cases in which two underlyingly distinct segments become nearly identical on the surface. IN has posed a challenge for traditional views of the phonetics-phonology interface. While classical modular feedforward architectures (e.g. Chomsky & Halle 1968, Bermúdez-Otero 2007) generally do not allow underlying phonological representations to direc…
Phonotactics of noun class disambiguation in Xhosa
Bantu languages are noted for their noun class systems. These noun classes tend to connect to semantic domains: e.g., humans are prototypically in classes 1 and 2. We present an experiment in which native speakers of Xhosa were shown singular nonce nouns with no semantic context, and were asked to provide the plural forms. These nouns were shown with the singular class prefix –i, which is ambiguous between class 5 and class 9. Historically, class…
The Phonetics of Emphatic Vowel Lengthening in English
While many languages show lexical contrasts based on duration in vowels and consonants, such lexical durational contrasts are usually limited to binary distinctions (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996). Within the phonetically-driven phonology approach (Hayes and Steraide 2004), one explanation for this fact is that, in the spirit of Dispersion Theory (Liljencrants & Lindblom 1972, Lindblom 1986), listeners have difficulty perceiving contrasts that are a…
Modelling incomplete neutralisation with weighted phonetic constraints
Incomplete neutralisation presents a problem for classical modular feed-forward grammars: it results in surface phonetic distinctions between phonologically neutralised segments. This paper argues for a model of incomplete neutralisation using two independently motivated theoretical devices: paradigm uniformity and weighted phonetic constraints. A case study is presented, showing that Japanese monomoraic lengthening results in incomplete neutrali…
The Efficacy of Gesture on Second Language Pronunciation
In this study, we examined the efficacy of gestures for the acquisition of L2 segmental phonology. Despite teachers' frequent use of gestures in the classroom to teach pronunciation, the field lacks empirical support for this practice. We attempted to fill this gap by investigating the effects of handclapping on the development of L2 Japanese segmentals (long vowels, geminates, and moraic nasals). We assigned L1 English university students in beg…
Linguistics (8 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (8 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Phonology (6 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works)