Gorgotoqui language

Last updated
Gorgotoqui
Native toeastern Bolivia
Region Chiquitania
Extinct 17th century
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
0is
Glottolog None

Gorgotoqui is a currently undocumented extinct language of the Chiquitania region of the eastern Bolivian lowlands. It may have been a Bororoan language. [1]

Contents

Spellings

Alternate spellings include Borogotoqui, Brotoqui, Corocoqui, Corocotoqui, Corocotoquy, Corogotoqui, Corotoque, Gorgotaci, Gorgotoci, Gorgotoquci, Gorogotoqui, Guorcocoqui, Jorocotoqui, Korchkoki, Orotocoqui. [2] :22

History

During the period of the Jesuit missions to Chiquitos, Gorgotoqui was the most populous language in the area. It became a lingua franca and the sole language of the Jesuit missions (ICOMOS 1990:59). A Jesuit priest [3] wrote a grammar, but no-one has been able to locate it "in recent years" (Adelaar & Muysken 2004:32), and no other documentation has survived. Thus a language that was regionally important during the colonial era disappeared under pressure from more successful indigenous peoples (Adelaar 2007:326); this appears to have occurred in under half a century (Alarcón 2001:101).

Classification

Loukotka (1968) classified Gorgotoqui as a language isolate, but Kaufman (1990) left it unclassified because of a lack of data. Several languages of the missions "had nothing in common" according to Oliva & Pazos (1895:15). [4]

Bororoan affiliation

Combès (2010) suggests that Gorgotoqui may have been a Bororoan language. [5] Nikulin (2019) suggests the etymology barogo- /barəkə-/ ‘animal’ + -doge /-toke/ ‘plural [+animate]’ for the ethnonym Gorgotoqui. [2]

Combès (2012) also suggests that Penoquí was likely a name given to the Gorgotoqui during the 16th century, and that they were related to the Otuqui (Otuke); indeed, the Gorgotoqui may have been Otuqui who had undergone heavy Chiquitano cultural influence. The Penoqui and Otuqui both lived in the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos together with the Chiquitano. [1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 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
  2. 1 2 Nikulin, Andrey (2020). "Contacto de lenguas en la Chiquitanía". Revista Brasileira de Línguas Indígenas. 2 (2): 5–30. doi: 10.18468/rbli.2019v2n2.p05-30 . S2CID   225674786.
  3. Kaspar Rueß (Spanish: Gaspar Ruíz), 11 November 1585, Haunstadt, Bavaria – 12 April 1624, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (O'Neill & María 2001:3432; Huonder 1899:121)
  4. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  5. Combès, Isabelle. 2010. Diccionario étnico: Santa Cruz la Vieja y su entorno en el siglo XVI. Cochabamba: Itinera-rios/Instituto Latinoamericano de Misionología. (Colección Scripta Autochtona, 4.)

References