Otuke language

{{Infobox language

| name = Otuke

| nativename =

| states = Brazil, Bolivia

| region = Mato Grosso; Santa Cruz

| extinct = {{circa|1920s}}

| ref = e25

| familycolor = macro-je

| fontcolor = white

| fam1 = Macro-Jê

| fam2 = Bororoan

| iso3 = otu

| glotto = otuk1240

| glottorefname = Otuke

| ethnicity = Otuke

| altname = Otuque

| fam3 = Otuke–Covareca–Kuruminaka

}}

File:Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos-en.png with present international borders]]

Otuke (Otuque, Otuqui) is an extinct language of the Macro-Jê family, related to Bororo. Otuke territory included what is now the Otuquis National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area in eastern Bolivia. It is known from a wordlist recorded in 1831. The Kovareka (Covareca) and Kuruminaka (Curuminaca) languages, both extinct and poorly known, were close to Otuke, and have sometimes been considered dialects.{{Citation |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |title=Indigenous Languages of South America |date=2024-06-25 |work=The Indigenous Languages of the Americas |page= |pages=198 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/57386/chapter/464719092 |access-date=2025-05-21 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0004 |isbn=978-0-19-767346-1}}

Etymology

Combès (2012) suggests that -toki ~ -tuki ~ -tuke (also present in the ethynonym Gorgotoqui) is likely related to the Bororo animate plural suffix -doge (i.e., used to form plural nouns for ethnic groups). Hence, the name Otuqui (Otuke) was likely etymologically related to the name Gorgotoqui.Combès, Isabelle. 2012. Susnik y los gorgotoquis. Efervescencia étnica en la Chiquitania (Oriente boliviano), p. 201–220. Indiana, v. 29. Berlín. {{doi|10.18441/ind.v29i0.201-220 }}

Other varieties

=Loukotka (1968)=

Several attested extinct Bororoan varieties were either dialects of Otuke or closely related:{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |authorlink=Čestmír Loukotka |title=Classification of South American Indian languages |url=https://archive.org/details/classificationof0007louk |url-access=registration |publisher=UCLA Latin American Center |year=1968 |location=Los Angeles}}

Covareca - Santa Ana mission, Bolivia
Curuminaca - Casalvasco mission, Bolivia
Coraveca (Curave, Ecorabe) - Santo Corazón mission, Bolivia
Curucaneca (Curucane, Carruacane) - San Rafael mission, Bolivia
Tapii - Santiago de Chiquitos mission, Bolivia

Chiquitano speakers also lived in many of the missions.

(See Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos for locations.)

Mason (1950) says the first four are "separate and very different", but Loukotka (1968) notes that nothing is known of Curave or Curucane (or of Tapii), that only 14 words of Curumina and 19 of Covare have been preserved.{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |authorlink=Čestmír Loukotka |title=Classification of South American Indian languages |url=https://archive.org/details/classificationof0007louk |url-access=registration |publisher=UCLA Latin American Center |year=1968 |location=Los Angeles}}

=Mason (1950)=

Mason (1950) lists the following varieties of Otuke:{{cite book |last=Mason |first=John Alden |authorlink=John Alden Mason |date=1950 |chapter=The languages of South America |editor-first1=Julian |editor-last1=Steward |title=Handbook of South American Indians |volume=6 |pages=157–317 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143 |location=Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office}}

;Otuke