Style is an important component of communication: it is the how in communicating the what
demonstrating the ontological unity of the two in language variability that provides the ground
for the functioning of what-how and what-for . This volume approaches style within the
framework of cognitive linguistics a usage-based functional model which interprets language
as being conceptual whereas conceptual knowledge is interpreted as experiential. Consequently
style is considered not as a set of predetermined ornaments on texts but as a system of
context-sensitive probability schemes of formation contributing to the meaning of discourse.
Style is the outcome of linguistic potential constrained by socio-cultural factors
functioning in the on-line and consolidated stylistic structure of discourse.
