Pilagá language

Pilagá is a language spoken by 4,000 people in the Bermejo and Pilcomayo River valleys, western Formosa Province, in northeastern Argentina.

Sociocultural context

The geographical distribution into communities is permeated by pan-Chacoan social organization of people into bands.

According to Braunstein (1983), among the Chaco groups several bands constitute a ‘tribe’, identified by a common name and associated by marriage and exchange. He states that tribes have been preferably endogamous, with uxirolocal postmarital residence. Among the Pilagá, tribes have identified with names of regional animals and these traditional denominations persist in present times.

As many anthropologists have noted, the Chaco groups, including the Pilagá, have been hunter-gatherers. Hunting includes fishing and collection of honey. Hunting is exclusively the domain of men, while gathering of wild fruits, palm hearts, mesquite (prosopis sp.) and firewood is done regularly by women. The major animals hunted are species of deers and armadillos. Among the fish specimens are surubí (Pseudoplatysoma coruscans), pacú (colossoma mitrei) and dorado (salminus maxillosus).