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Maxakalí language
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Maxakalí language
Maxakalí (Maxakalí: Tikmũũn yĩy ax', Mãxakani yĩy ax) is a Maxakalían language spoken in four villages in Minas Gerais, Brazil, by more than 2,000 people.It is the primary language of the Maxakalí people. There is no known dialectal variation within Maxakalí. The language is characterized by a unique phonology, including vowel lowering and backing, and the absence of fricatives and nasals. Maxakalí typically follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, and verbs are inflected for mood. The Maxakalí lexicon includes verbal number, noun compounding, and lexical borrowings from Língua Geral varieties and Brazilian Portuguese.
No dialectal differences are known. Extinct varieties such as Kapoxó, Kumanaxó, Makuní, Panháme, and the 19th century "Maxakalí", which were sometimes taken to be dialects of Maxakalí, are now generally considered to represent a distinct variety of the Maxakalían family, very close to Ritual Maxakalí. Curt Nimuendaju collected a wordlist of a variety known as Mašakarí/Monačóbm in 1939, which was shown by Araújo (1996) to be an early attestion of Maxakalí.
Spoken Maxakalí is different from the variety used in the Maxakalí ritual songs, Ritual Maxakalí, though both are classified as Maxakalían languages.
Maxakalí was originally spoken in the Mucuri River, Itanhém River, and Jequitinhonha River areas. Today, Maxakalí is found in four main communities (aldeias) of Minas Gerais, with a total ethnic population of about 2,000:
Old Machacari is attested from the 19th century. Reported varieties include Monoxó, Makoni, Kapoxó, Kumanaxó, and Panhame. After the dispersion of its speakers in the 1750s, they lived between the upper Mucuri River and São Mateus River (near the present-day city of Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais), possibly up to Jequitinhonha in the north to the Suaçuí Grande River, a tributary of the Doce River, in the south. After 1750, the southward migration of the Botocudos forced the Machacari to seek refuge in Portuguese settlements on the Atlantic coast (in an area ranging from the mouth of the Mucuri River to the Itanhaém River), in Alto dos Bois (near Minas Novas), and in Peçanha. According to Saint-Hilaire (2000: 170), the Monoxó lived in Cuyaté (Doce River, near the mouth of the Suaçuí Grande River) probably around 1800, before seeking refuge in Peçanha. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Panhame and other Maxakali groups allied with the Portuguese to fight the Botocudos.
Modern Maxakali (called Monaxobm by Curt Nimuendajú) is distinct from Old Machacari. It was historically spoken from the Mucuri River valley up to the headwaters of the Itanhaém River in Minas Gerais.
Maxakalí has ten vowels, including five oral vowels and their nasal counterparts. In the table below, their orthographic representation is given in angle brackets.
Silva (2020) describes two nasal spread processes which affect vowels.
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Maxakalí language AI simulator
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Maxakalí language
Maxakalí (Maxakalí: Tikmũũn yĩy ax', Mãxakani yĩy ax) is a Maxakalían language spoken in four villages in Minas Gerais, Brazil, by more than 2,000 people.It is the primary language of the Maxakalí people. There is no known dialectal variation within Maxakalí. The language is characterized by a unique phonology, including vowel lowering and backing, and the absence of fricatives and nasals. Maxakalí typically follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, and verbs are inflected for mood. The Maxakalí lexicon includes verbal number, noun compounding, and lexical borrowings from Língua Geral varieties and Brazilian Portuguese.
No dialectal differences are known. Extinct varieties such as Kapoxó, Kumanaxó, Makuní, Panháme, and the 19th century "Maxakalí", which were sometimes taken to be dialects of Maxakalí, are now generally considered to represent a distinct variety of the Maxakalían family, very close to Ritual Maxakalí. Curt Nimuendaju collected a wordlist of a variety known as Mašakarí/Monačóbm in 1939, which was shown by Araújo (1996) to be an early attestion of Maxakalí.
Spoken Maxakalí is different from the variety used in the Maxakalí ritual songs, Ritual Maxakalí, though both are classified as Maxakalían languages.
Maxakalí was originally spoken in the Mucuri River, Itanhém River, and Jequitinhonha River areas. Today, Maxakalí is found in four main communities (aldeias) of Minas Gerais, with a total ethnic population of about 2,000:
Old Machacari is attested from the 19th century. Reported varieties include Monoxó, Makoni, Kapoxó, Kumanaxó, and Panhame. After the dispersion of its speakers in the 1750s, they lived between the upper Mucuri River and São Mateus River (near the present-day city of Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais), possibly up to Jequitinhonha in the north to the Suaçuí Grande River, a tributary of the Doce River, in the south. After 1750, the southward migration of the Botocudos forced the Machacari to seek refuge in Portuguese settlements on the Atlantic coast (in an area ranging from the mouth of the Mucuri River to the Itanhaém River), in Alto dos Bois (near Minas Novas), and in Peçanha. According to Saint-Hilaire (2000: 170), the Monoxó lived in Cuyaté (Doce River, near the mouth of the Suaçuí Grande River) probably around 1800, before seeking refuge in Peçanha. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Panhame and other Maxakali groups allied with the Portuguese to fight the Botocudos.
Modern Maxakali (called Monaxobm by Curt Nimuendajú) is distinct from Old Machacari. It was historically spoken from the Mucuri River valley up to the headwaters of the Itanhaém River in Minas Gerais.
Maxakalí has ten vowels, including five oral vowels and their nasal counterparts. In the table below, their orthographic representation is given in angle brackets.
Silva (2020) describes two nasal spread processes which affect vowels.