The article deals with ethical principles which are the grounds for the rhetorical codification of the Wapishana, people belonging to the Maipura/Arawak linguistic branch, and living between the rivers Branco and Rupununi, at the border of Brazil and Guyana. According to this codification, there is a necessary link between soul and language, which associates its decorous use - as dialogue par excellence - to the human sociability. Through this, the article seeks to establish the Wapishana conception of human nature.
Wapishana; Guyanas; Rhetorical codification; Cosmology