The Maxakalían languages (also Mashakalían) were first classified into the Gê languages

Ge languages

The Jê languages , or Jê–Kaingang languages, are spoken by the Gê, a group of indigenous peoples in Brazil.-Family division:The language family is as follows:*Jaikó...

. 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

John Alden Mason

John Alden Mason was an archaeological anthropologist and linguist.Mason was born in Orland, Indiana, but grew up in Philadelphia's Germantown. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907 and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1911...

 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 of the above are extinct, except for the modern Maxakalí. Linguist List lists them as dialects of a single language.

The Pataxó

Pataxó language

Pataxó or Pataxó Hã-Ha-Hãe is an extinct native language of Brazil formally spoken by the Pataxó people of the Bahía region and Minas Gerais, Pôsto Paraguassu in Itabuna municipality. It is unclassified. The 2,950 individuals in the Pataxó tribe now speak Portuguese. Pataxó Hã-Ha-Hãe was also...

, Malalí and Coropó languages (also extinct) seem to have a few resemblances with this family, but are not so strongly connected for Mason; Coropó is now thought to be Purian

Purian languages

Purian is a pair of extinct languages of eastern Brazil:Coropó was spoken in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Purí was spoken in Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.Purian is part of the Macro-Jê proposal.-Bibliography:...

. 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

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

Campbell (1997) lists:

1. Malalí (†)
2. Pataxó
   Pataxó language
   Pataxó or Pataxó Hã-Ha-Hãe is an extinct native language of Brazil formally spoken by the Pataxó people of the Bahía region and Minas Gerais, Pôsto Paraguassu in Itabuna municipality. It is unclassified. The 2,950 individuals in the Pataxó tribe now speak Portuguese. Pataxó Hã-Ha-Hãe was also...
   
   ( Patashó) (†)
3. Maxakalí ( Mashakalí, Mashacalí; other alternative names: Caposho, Cumanasho, Macuni, Monaxo, Monocho)