| Watters, John R | Review of: Functional grammar, by Simon C. Dik | 1980 | Lingua | Linguistics |
| Hyman, Larry M. and John R. Watters | Auxiliary focus | 1984 | Studies in African Linguistics | Linguistics, Translation |
| Watters, John R | The inclusive/exclusive distinction in Ejagham | 1985 | Journal of West African Languages | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R | Mass literacy programs | 1990 | Notes on Literacy (online collection) | Literacy and Education |
| Watters, John R | A phonology and morphology of Ejagham, with notes on dialect variation | 1981 | | Linguistics |
| Haller, Beat and John R. Watters | Topic in Zulgo | 1985 | Studies in African Linguistics | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R | The expression of the locative semantic function in (Western) Ejagham | 1983 | Journal of West African Languages | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R | Reduplication and the origin of high tone on noun prefixes in Ejagham | 1990 | Journal of West African Languages | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R. | Proto-Bantu Tense from a Benue-Congo Perspective (Bantoid, Cross River, Jukunoid) | 2018 | | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R. | Towards the reconstruction of the tense-aspect-mood (TAM) system in early Bantoid, with particular attention to the category “tense” | 2012 | | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R. | Proto Bantu Tense from a Benue Congo Perspective (Bantoid, Cross River, Jukunoid, Plateau, Kainji) | 2019 | | Linguistics |
| Watters, John R. | East Benue-Congo | 2018 | Niger-Congo Comparative Studies | Linguistics |
| Sadembouo, Etienne and John R. Watters | Proposition pour l’évaluation des niveaux de développement d’une langue écrite | 1987 | Journal of West African Languages | Language Program Management |
| Watters, John R | Focus in Aghem: a study of its formal correlates and typology, part III | 1979 | Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics | Translation |
