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The Canela and the Krahô speak the same language of the Gê family, Macro-Gê trunk, with small variations. The Canela understand the Krikati/Pukobyé with ease and, certainly, the Gavião of the Tocantins. These are the principal eastern Timbira languages that have survived. Apinayé (western Timbira) is as different from Canela as Spanish is from Portuguese. A Canela does not understand Xavante (central Gê) or Xokleng (Southern Gê), and has great difficulty in undertanding Xikrin (northern Gê).

Many Canela are able to expresss themselves in Portuguese, even if they don't speak it correctly. The Ramkokamekrá have a greater command of this language than the Apanyekrá. Among them, the men speak better Portuguese than the women, since they have more experience in the cities and in commerce.

In the Canela language, aspects of dualism are explicit, to the extent that almost all verbs possess two basic alternate forms. Besides that, when a person speaks to his own group, he uses an exclusive pronoun in the first person plural, me(n)pa (we-our group); but when he speaks to someone of another group, he uses an inclusive pronoun in the first person plural wa me(n) (we, all of us), as in Portuguese. Pronouns, adjectives, and substantives are not differentiated by gender, as in Portuguese, but a feminine or masculine suffix (-kahãy or -tsu(n)m-re, respectively) can be added to any substantive. There are two forms of pronoun in the second and third persons. The form -ka is used for kin, spouses, informal friends, and the majority of other individuals, including members of other Timbira tribes. The other pronoun, yê, is used to establish social distance and respect with the majority of affines and all formal friends. This last form is also used in the second and third person plural. Of the 30 phonemes in Canela, 17 are vowels, two are semi-vowels, and 11 are consonants. This produces an uncommon number of meaningful vocalic sounds. The language of the Canela does not posses dipththongs, but makes a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels.