truck drivers and passerby’s. During these arduous times when their population was down to 50 people and on the path to extinction, SIL International, a non-profit language development organization, became involved in their communities. This organization brought Protestant missionaries into Mamaindê communities, which was unlike most Nambikwaran groups who were mainly in contact with Catholic missionaries. Rising familiarity with the bible led to part of it being translated into the Mamaindê language. Young generations were often encouraged to study in missionary schools located away from their villages where they were formally educated in practicing religion in their villages and the norms of "white people’s way of life". Pushing for sustainability and working towards community development, SIL was able to kick-start their advancement in preserving the Mamaindê culture, language and population. Language Family The language family of which Mamaindê belongs to is Nambikwara (also spelled Nambicuara or Nambiquara). Speakers of languages from this family have once or currently lived in the Chapada dos Parecis, the Guaporé Valley and the northern region between the Iquê River and the Cabixi and Piolho rivers. Nambikwara languages can be split into three divisions: Sabanê, Northern Nambikwara and Southern Nambikwara. Languages within each division are mutually intelligible, given that they’re considered dialects or variations. Multilingualism is common among Nambikwara that live in the north areas due to heavy contact with different Nambikwara languages as well as Portuguese. As previously mentioned, according to David Price, contact between Portuguese speakers and speakers of Nambikwara languages initially occurred when Portuguese began travelling onto Nambikwara territory in search of gold. Work on Nambikwara David Price contributed greatly to research on the Nambikwara community and focused his fieldwork on them for his doctoral dissertation in anthropology (1967-1970). He worked with/for "the government agency in charge indigenous people", FUNAI, to aid the Nambikwara community. In addition, Price wrote "The Nambiquara Linguistic Family" which classified 6 of the family’s languages. His contribution to the Nambikwara documentation didn’t end there, as he also wrote the published article "Pareci, Cabixi, Nambikwara: a Case study in the Western classification of native peoples" (Journal de la Societe des Americanistes. 69:129-48, 1983). The book that dives into each specific Nambikwara group and its history called "Before the Bulldozer", was also written by Price in 1989. Nambikwara has various other linguistic literature available as well. A descriptive grammar can be found for Nambikwara; Menno Kroeker wrote the journal article