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In Hispanic America, a great number of Spanish American writers have used their national language as an effective tool to inform the reader about the known and unknown aspects of the social organization of their countries. In Ecuador, Jorge Icaza has a special place among Ecuadorian authors, who, in order to recreate the different aspects of the social structure of their country, integrate the country's spoken language into their literary works.
Icaza's faithful recreation of the national language of Ecuador reveals the social background of the speaker not only through the vocabulary used but also through its phonological aspects. That is to say, words are pronounced according to the speaker's social class. For example, the Spanish expression "pues" varies phonologically between the Indian, the mestizo and the landowner. So, the Indian says "pis", the mestizo says "pes", and the landowner says "pues". The Quechua word "ca" is pronounced "ga" by the Indian, while the mestizo says "ca".
The lexicon in Jorge Icaza's novels, dramas, and short stories includes all aspects of the Spanish spoken in Ecuador, such as the Quechua influence in the Spanish, the Spanish influence in the Quechua, the influence of various American-Indian languages, in the Spanish, the difference between the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Ecuador, etc.
In Ecuador, the Spanish vocabulary is very rich in Quechua terminology. Some Spanish terms are integrated into the Quechua, as well as Quechua terms integrated into the Spanish. Furthermore, the Ecuadorian lexicon includes terms belonging to Amerindian languages, other than Quechua, coming from distant places of the American Continent.
In studying Icaza's works I have found 178 Americanisms, 253 Ecuatorianisms, 40 Spanish Archaisms, nine Galicisms, 232 Quechua voices, 10 Aztec, eight Taino, six Aymara, one Cumanogoto, one Cuna, two Antillean, two Caribbean, three Haitian, one Arahuac, etc.
Icaza's works, homologues of the life and the language of Ecuador, mirror the social stratum of the country as well as the religious, the mythical, and the supersticious beliefs of its inhabitants; while, at the same time, the lexicon in Icaza's works brings us back to the Hispanic and the Pre-Hispanic history of the country.