Otuke language


Otuke 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 only known from a wordlist recorded in 1831. The Kovareka and Kuruminaka languages, both extinct and poorly known, were close to Otuke, and have sometimes been considered dialects.

Etymology

Combès suggests that -toki ~ -tuki ~ -tuke is likely related to the Bororo animate plural suffix -doge. Hence, the name Otuqui was likely etymologically related to the name Gorgotoqui.Combès, Isabelle. 2012. Susnik y los gorgotoquis. Efervescencia étnica en la Chiquitania, p. 201–220. Indiana, v. 29. Berlín.

Varieties

Loukotka (1968)

Several attested extinct Bororoan varieties were either dialects of Otuke or closely related:
Chiquitano speakers also lived in many of the missions. All of the peoples listed above switched to Chiquitano by the 19th century.
Mason says the first four are "separate and very different", but Loukotka notes that nothing is known of Curave or Curucane, that only 14 words of Curumina and 19 of Covare have been preserved.

Mason (1950)

Mason lists the following varieties of Otuke:
;Otuke
  • Otuké
  • Covareca
  • Curuminaca
  • Coraveca ; Curavé
  • Curucaneca
  • Tapii
Mason notes that Tapii may have been either Otukean or Zamucoan.

Grammar

The suffix -ra is found in body part names. Similarly, the suffix -ka is found on words for round fruits.