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The Maxakalían languages (also Mashakalían) were first classified into the Gê languages. It was only in 1931 that Loukotka separated them from the Gê family. Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimuendaju Unkel considered the Maxakalían family isolated from others. John Alden Mason suggests a connection to a hypothetical Macro-Gê stock, and Aryon Dall’Igna Rodrigues confirms it, although they see more indications about it than evidences.

Family division

Mason lists

• Caposhó (†)
• Cumanaxó (†)
• Maconí (†)
• Maxakalí
• Monoshó (†)
• Panyame (†)

All are extinct, except for the modern Maxakalí. The Pataxó, Malalí and Coropó languages (also extinct) seem to have a few resemblances with this family, but are not so strongly connected for Mason. The modern Pataxó use part of their old vocabulary in their daily life, mixed with some idioms from other modern indigenous peoples they are related with nowadays. Approximately 1200 speakers of modern Maxakalí are in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Campbell (1997) lists:

1. Malalí (†)
2. Pataxó (a.k.a. Patashó) (†)
3. Maxakalí (a.k.a. Mashakalí, Mashacalí)
   • a) Caposho (a.k.a. Caposhó) (†)
   • b) Cumanasho (a.k.a. Cumanaxó) (†)
   • c) Macuni (a.k.a. Moconí) (†)
   • d) Momaxo
   • e) Manocho (a.k.a. Monoshó) (†)

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
• Kaufman, Terrence. (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. ISBN 0-2927-0414-3.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46-76). London: Routledge.