[1]: 39–42 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.
Today, Maxakalí is found in four main communities (aldeias) of Minas Gerais, with a total ethnic population of about 2,000:[1]: 30 Old Machacari is attested from the 19th century.
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.
Examples include tex ~ tehex [ˈt̪æj ~ t̪æˈɦæj] ‘rain’, yẽy [ˈɲæ̃j] ‘to shut up, to be silent’, pix [ˈpɪj] ‘wash (realis)’, mĩy [ˈmɪ̃j] ‘make (realis)’, kux [ˈkɨ̞j] ‘to end; forehead’, mũy [ˈmɨ̞̃j̃] ‘to hold, to grab (irrealis)’, tox [ˈt̪ʊj ~ ˈt̪uwɪ] ‘long’, nõy [ˈn̪ʊ̃j] ‘other; same-sex sibling’.
The vowels /ɨ ɨ̃ u ũ/ are further lowered to [ɘ ɘ̃ o õ], respectively, preceding a velar coda, as in tuk [ˈt̪ɘɰ] ‘to grow up’, yũmũg [ɲɨˈ̃mɘ̃ɰ̃] ‘to know, to understand, to learn’, ponok [puˈd̪oɰ] ‘white’, mõg [ˈmõɰ̃] ‘to go (realis)’.
[1]: 109–10 The vowels /a ã/ are backed and rounded in open syllables following a labial onset, as in kopa [kuˈpɒʔ] ‘inside’, hõmã [hũˈmɒ̃ʔ] ‘long ago’.
[1]: 155–63 In the coda position, only the place of articulation is contrastive, the possibilities being labial (orthographic -p ~ -m), dental (-t ~ -n), palatal (-x ~ -y), and velar (-k ~ -g).
[1] Maxakalí has been analyzed as having no contrastive fricative or nasal consonants, with the exception of the glottal continuant /h/.
Examples include kapex ‘coffee’, komenok ‘blanket’, kapitõg ‘captain’, pẽyõg ‘beans’, mug ‘bank’, tenemiyam ‘TV’ (borrowed from Portuguese café, cobertor, capitão, feijão, banco, televisão).