Gorgotoqui is a currently undocumented extinct language of the Chiquitania region of the eastern Bolivian 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 and the sole language of the Jesuit missions (ICOMOS 1990:59). A Jesuit priest 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).

Bororoan affiliation

Combès (2010) suggests that Gorgotoqui may have been a Bororoan language. Nikulin (2019) suggests the etymology barogo- /barəkə-/ ‘animal’ + -doge /-toke/ ‘plural [+animate]’ 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 cultural influence. The Penoqui and Otuqui both lived in the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos together with the Chiquitano.