Functional styles (FSs) of the English language

A functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communi­cation.

It can be regarded as the product of a certain task set by the sender of the message. Func­tional styles appear mainly in the literary standard of a language.A FS is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by thegreater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units(SPU), in which the choice and arrangement of interdependent andinterwoven language media are calculated to secure the purport of thecommunication.

The literary standard of the English language is not homogeneous. It has fallen into several subsystems each of which has acquired its own peculiarities which are typical of the given functional style.

Functional styles are the product of the development of the written variety of language. Each FS may be characterized by a number of distinctive features, leading or subordinate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. Most of the FSs, however, are perceived as independent wholes due to a peculiar combination and interrelation of features common to all (especially when taking into account syntactical arrangement) with the leading ones of each FS.

What we here call "functional styles" are also called registers or discourses.