Las variantes lingüísticas como reflejo de la lucha de clases en Las cruces sobre el agua de Joaquín Gallegos Lara

Abstract

Abstract: The linguistic variants present in the novel *Las cruces sobre el agua* reflect the class struggle and social inequalities of the Ecuadorian context in the early 20th century. Adopting both a sociolinguistic and a literary approach, the study analyzes the phonetic, lexical, and syntactic features employed by working-class and bourgeois characters, highlighting language as a marker of social affiliation and, simultaneously, as a means of denouncing conditions of exclusion and injustice. The research demonstrates that Joaquín Gallegos Lara uses sociolects not only to characterize the figures in the novel but also to represent the ideological, cultural, and economic tensions existing between different social classes. Furthermore, the study concludes that popular forms of expression legitimize historically marginalized voices, transforming the novel into a sociolinguistic document of collective memory; thus, the work lends itself to study beyond its aesthetic construction.