Otuke language



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.

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.

Loukotka (1968)
Several attested extinct Bororoan varieties were either dialects of Otuke or closely related:
 * 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.

Mason (1950)
Mason (1950) lists the following varieties of Otuke:


 * Otuke
 * Otuké
 * Covareca
 * Curuminaca
 * Coraveca (?); Curavé (?)
 * Curucaneca (?)
 * Tapii (?)

Mason (1950) notes that Tapii may have been either Otukean or Zamucoan.

The following are listed as Bororo varieties by Mason (1950):
 * Bororo
 * Eastern: Orarimugudoge
 * Western: Cabasal; Campanya
 * Acioné
 * Aravira
 * Biriuné
 * Coroa (?)
 * Coxipo (?)