Pataxó (Patashó, sometimes called Southern Pataxó to distinguish from
Pataxó-Hãhãhãe) is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
Maxakalían language of
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
formerly spoken by the
Pataxó people of the
Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
region, and of
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
, Pôsto Paraguassu in
Itabuna
Itabuna is a municipality in Bahia, Brazil. It is the 6th largest city in Bahia by population after Salvador, Feira de Santana, Camaçari, Vitória da Conquista, and Juazeiro. It had an estimated 214,123 residents in 2021. Itabuna covers a total ...
municipality. The 12,865 individuals in the
Pataxó tribe now speak
Portuguese instead, though they retain a few Pataxó words, as well as some words from neighbouring peoples. It has been revived in a form called Patxohã.
Due to poor documentation, many elements of Pataxó grammar, including the entire syntax, needed to be entirely reconstructed.
References
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