Gorgotoqui is a currently undocumented

extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, l ...

of the

Chiquitania Chiquitania ("Chiquitos" or "Gran Chiquitania") is a region of tropical savannas in the Santa Cruz Department in eastern Bolivia. Geography "Chiquitos" is the colonial name for what is now essentially five of the six provinces that make up the Ch ...

region of the eastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

n lowlands. It may have been a Bororoan language.

Spellings

Alternate spellings include ''Borogotoqui, Brotoqui, Corocoqui, Corocotoqui, Corocotoquy, Corogotoqui, Corotoque, Gorgotaci, Gorgotoci, Gorgotoquci, Gorogotoqui, Guorcocoqui, Jorocotoqui, Korchkoki, Orotocoqui''.

History

During the period of the Jesuit missions to Chiquitos, Gorgotoqui was the most populous language in the area. It became a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

and the sole language of the Jesuit missions (ICOMOS 1990:59). A Jesuit priestKaspar Rueß (Spanish: Gaspar Ruíz), 11 November 1585, Haunstadt,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

– 12 April 1624,

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

, Bolivia (O'Neill & María 2001:3432; Huonder 1899:121) 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 Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

, but Kaufman (1990) left it

unclassified Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

because of a lack of data. Several languages of the missions "had nothing in common" according to Oliva & Pazos (1895:15).

Bororoan affiliation

Combès (2010) suggests that Gorgotoqui may have been a Bororoan language.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.) Nikulin (2019) suggests the etymology ''barogo''- /barəkə-/ ‘animal’ + -doge /-toke/ ‘plural

animate Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

�� for the ethnonym ''Gorgotoqui''. 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 The Chiquitano or Chiquitos are an indigenous people of Bolivia, with a small number also living in Brazil. The Chiquitano primarily live in the Chiquitania tropical savanna of Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia, with a small number also living in B ...

cultural influence. The Penoqui and Otuqui both lived in the

Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are located in Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. Six of these former missions (all now secular municipalities) collectively were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Distinguished by a uniq ...

together with the

.Combès, Isabelle. 2012. Susnik y los gorgotoquis. Efervescencia étnica en la Chiquitania (Oriente boliviano), p. 201–220. ''Indiana'', v. 29. Berlín.

Notes

References

* Willem Adelaar and Pieter Muysken (2004) ''The languages of the Andes.'' Cambridge University Press * Willem Adelaar (2007) "The importance of toponomy, family names and historical documentation for the study of disappearing and recently extinct languages in the Andean region", in Wetzels (ed.) ''Language endangerment and endangered languages: linguistic and anthropological studies with special emphasis on the languages and cultures of the Andean-Amazonian border area.'' CNWS Publications *

Roberto Balza Alarcón The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

(2001) ''Tierra, territorio y territorialidad indígena: un estudio antropológico sobre la evolución en las formas de ocupación del espacio del pueblo indígena chiquitano de la ex-reducción jesuita de San José.'' IWGIA *

Anton Huonder Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...

(1899) ''Deutsche Jesuitenmissionäre des 17. Und 18. Jahrhunderts: Ein Beitrag zur Missionsgeschichte und zur deutschen Biographie.'' Herder * ICOMOS (1990) "Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos", i
''Advisory Body Evaluation'' No. 529
UNESCO. *

Terrence Kaufman Terrence Kaufman (1937 – March 3, 2022) was an American linguist specializing in documentation of unwritten languages, lexicography, Mesoamerican historical linguistics and language contact phenomena. He was an emeritus professor of linguisti ...

(1990) "Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more". In D. L. Payne (ed.) ''Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages'' (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press *

Čestmír Loukotka Čestmír Loukotka (12 November 1895 – 13 April 1966) was a Czechoslovak linguist. His daughter was Jarmila Loukotková. Career Loukotka proposed a classification for the languages of South America based on several previous works. This ...

(1968) ''Classification of South American Indian Languages.'' University of California, Los Angeles * Charles O'Neill &

Joaquín María Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Spanish football winger * Joaquín (footballer, born 1982 ...

(2001) ''Diccionario histórico de la compañía de Jesús: Piatti-Zwaans.'' Universidad Pontificia de Comillas de Madrid * Anello Oliva &

Juan Francisco Pazos ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanis ...

(1895) ''Libro primero del manuscrito original del R.P. Anello Oliva, S.J.'' Imprenta y libreria de S. Pedro *

Gaspar Ruíz Gaspar is a given and/or surname of French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish origin, cognate to Casper (given name) or Casper (surname). It is a name of biblical origin, per Saint Gaspar, one of the wise men mentioned in the Bible. Notable peo ...

(ca 1620) ''Gramática de la lengua gorgotoqui del Perú.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorgotoqui Language Unclassified languages of South America Languages of Bolivia Bororoan languages Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area