Distribution of Maxakalian languages among the Macro-Jê family
Map of the Maxakalian languages (excluding Koropo)
The Maxakalían languages (also Mashakalían) are a group of related indigenous languages of Brazil, named after Maxakalí, the one surviving language in the group. Linguists differ in the other, extinct, languages they identify as part of the group, many of which are poorly attested. The Maxakalían group is today usually considered part of the Macro-Jê language family.
Mason (1950) noted resemblances with a few other extinct languages of the area: Pataxó, Malalí and Coropó. Previously, there was some debate as to whether or not they constituted members of the Maxakalían family. However, Coropó was formerly sometimes thought to be a Purian language.
Maxakalí is a sister of Krenák and possibly also Kamakã. Together, they form a Trans-São Francisco branch within the Macro-Jê language phylum in Nikulin's (2020) classification.
Currently, Maxakali (excluding Old Machacari) is the only living language, while all other languages are extinct. The extinct Maxakalian varieties are mainly attested from 19th-century word lists:
Pataxó as documented by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (1820: 510–511) in 1816 is distinct from Pataxó-Hãhãhãe. Pataxó-Hãhãhãe was spoken into the 20th century and has been documented by Pickering in Meader (1978: 45–50), Scheibe in Loukotka (1963: 32–33), and Silva & Rodrigues (1982).
↑Martius, Karl Friedrich Philip von. 1863. Glossaria linguarum Brasiliensium: glossarios de diversas lingoas e dialectos, que fallao os Indios no imperio do Brazil. Erlangen: Druck von Jange.
↑Silva, Aracy Lopes da & Maria Carolina Young Rodrigues. 1982. Lições de Bahetá: sobre a língua Pataxó-Hãhãhãi. São Paulo: Commissão Pró-Índio de São Paulo.
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† indicates an extinct language, italics indicates independent status of a language, bold indicates that a language family has at least 6 members, * indicates moribund status