Dennis Holt
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Dennis Graham Holt (born October 6, 1942, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American poet and linguist.
Holt attended the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA, from which he received the Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1986. His linguistic research has primarily been directed toward the description of endangered languages of Latin America, including Pech, Tol, and Sumu of Honduras, and Tepecano and Sayula Popoluca of Mexico. In the 1970s, he began formulating a hypothesis that proposes a genetic relationship between the Uto-Aztecan and Chibchan language-families. This hypothesis has not yet been generally accepted among linguists. For 10 years, Holt served as secretary-treasurer of the Endangered Language Fund, from its founding, in 1996, until 2006; he also designed the logo of the organization, which, with some additional stylization, is still used.[1]
As an educator, Holt has taught at a number of institutions of higher learning in the U.S., including Southern Connecticut State University, Roger Williams University, Central Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, and the University of Montana. At the last of these he was suspended and ultimately fired for having spoken out against the Iraq War and President George W. Bush during a linguistics-class on March 21st, 2003.[2]
As a poet, in addition to the dissemination of his own poems and translations through publication in journals and anthologies, Holt has been active as an impresario of poetry-readings and other literary events; and, for a total of five years, he produced a weekly poetry-hour over radio-stations in Santa Barbara, California (KCSB, 1983-1986), and Bristol, Rhode Island (WQRI, 1989-1992). He was one of the founders of the Poetry Mission in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1990, and subsequently served as treasurer of that organization, as well as co-editor of its associated magazine, Northeast Journal (since then transmogrified into Nedge).
Since 1978 Holt has produced and published occasional bardic broadsheets under various titles, including Some Bard's-Eye Views from Santa Cruz, Le Missoulambator, La Fogata Cruceña, The Quincunx, and others. In 1979, he published one issue of a literary-artistic journal, Onicnomachitocac, which included poetry, prose, & drawings by five others plus himself.
Published works
Poetry
- Venice Thirteen (anthology). Venice, California: Beyond Baroque, 1972.
- Windings: Poems & Fragments, 1962-1972. Privately published, 1973.
- Linguistic Muse (anthology). Donna Jo Napoli and Emily Norwood Rando, eds. Carbondale, Illinois: Linguistic Research, 1979.
- "From a Sequoia Journal". Onicnomachitocac 1 (Fall 1979).
- Discovered Tongues: Poems by Linguists (anthology). William Bright, ed. San Francisco: Corvine Press, 1983.
- "Deputizable Imputations del Riaje San Joaquín". Exquisite Corpse 10 (October 2000). [1]
Linguistics
- "La lengua paya y las fronteras lingüísticas de Mesoamérica" (with William Bright). Las fronteras de Mesoamérica: XIV Mesa Redonda, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 23–28 de junio 1975, 1:149–56. México: Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología,1975.
- The Development of the Paya Sound-System. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, 1986.
- Tol (Jicaque). Languages of the World/Materials 170. Munich: LincomEuropa, 1999.
- Pech (Paya). Languages of the World/Materials 366. Munich: LincomEuropa, 1999.
References
- ^ http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/about_logo.html
- ^ "The Revolution Will Not Be Proselytized", Missoula Independent, April 10th, 2003, p. 1