John Alexander Holm (May 16, 1943 – December 28, 2015) was an American academic. He was Chair of English

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and History of Civilizations at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Holm was born in

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is a city in Jackson County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 31,309 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along Interstate 94 in Michigan, Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127 in Michigan, U.S ...

, and graduated from Jackson High School in 1961. He received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1978 with his thesis "The creole English of Nicaragua's Miskito Coast : its sociolinguistic history and a comparative study of its lexicon and syntax." He is a specialist on the history and languages of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

peoples, and the author of many books and articles on those subjects. He is editor with

Susanne Maria Michaelis Susanne Maria Michaelis (born March 30, 1962, in Aachen) is a specialist in creole linguistics who is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. She was previously at Leipzig University and at the Max Planc ...

of the series ''Contact languages : critical concepts in language studies.'' Thanks to the study of creoles, he showed that because of its importance in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, the white population is the starting point of most of the

English creoles An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the ''lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...

that are spoken by the Indian, white and black peoples in most parts of the

and Carolina. He also wrote the only one dictionary of

Bahamian English Bahamian English is English spoken in The Bahamas and by the Bahamian people. The standard for official use and education is largely British-based with regard to spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation. However, Bahamian English also contains ...

. He died on December 28, 2015, in Azeitão, Portugal from prostate cancer.

Books

* ''Dictionary of Bahamian English,'' (with Alison Watt Shilling). Cold Spring, N.Y.: Lexik House Publishers, 1982. * ''Central American English,'' (ed.) Heidelberg : J. Groos, 1983. **Review, by Steve Jones, ''Language in Society,'' Jun., 1984, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 281 **Review, by J. L. Dillard, '' Language'', Jun., 1985, vol. 61, no. 2, p. 487-489 **Review, by G. G. Gilbert, ''American Speech'' Autumn, 1985, vol. 60, no. 3, p. 261-269 * ''Pidgins and Creoles'' 2 vol.: v.1, " Theory and structure"; v.2, "References survey" Cambridge University Press, 1988-89 WorldCat
/ref> **Review, Morris Goodman, in ''Journal of Pidgin and Creole Language,'' vol. 7, no. 2 (1992); p. 352-361.) **Review, by Salikoko S Mufwene, ''Language'', Jun., 1991, vol. 67, no. 2, p. 380-387 **Review by John McWhorter, ''Language in Society'', Sep., 1991, vol. 20, no. 3, p. 477-483 **Review, G. Sankoff, '' American Anthropologist,'' Jun., 1991, vol. 93, no. 2, p. 511-512 **Review, by P. Muysken, ''Journal of Linguistics,'' Sep., 1990, vol. 26, no. 2, p. 509-512 * ''An introduction to pidgins and creoles'' Cambridge University Press, 2000. in 596 libraries according to
WorldCat
**Review, by A. S. Kaye, ''Language'', Jun., 2002, vol. 78, no. 2, p. 362-363 **Review, by Patrick O. Steinkrüger, ''Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft'', 2004, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 300-301. * ''Languages in contact: the partial restructuring of vernaculars '' Cambridge University Press, 2004. in 282 libraries according to
WorldCat
**Review by Patrick O. Steinkrüger, ''Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft'', 2006, vol. 25, no. 1, p. 154-156. **Review by Raymond Hickey, ''Anthropological linguistics''. 48, no. 3, (2006): 299 **Review by Anthony P Grant, '' Language in Society,'' Apr., 2006, vol. 35, no. 2, p. 297-300 **Review, by D. E. Wallcek, ''Language,'' Sep., 2006, vol. 82, no. 3, p. 683 * ''Comparative Creole Syntax: Parallel Outlines of 18 Creole Grammars.'' (with Peter L. Patrick). ondon Battlebridge, 2007.

Articles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holm, John A. 1943 births 2015 deaths Linguists from the United States People from Jackson, Michigan