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The article is dedicated to the speech genre as a unifying basis for different theories of style. We clarify the notions of language, speech, dis-course, text in terms of «language phenomena» aspects singled out by L. V. Scherba. Terminological stability allows us to outline four approaches to style definition: cognitive, systemic-structural, textual and communicative. The cognitive aspect of style corresponds to the «system of concepts and strategies of usage». In this view, the speech genre allows for diverse definitions.

The article is focused on the illocutive function of speech utterance as its genre identification criterion. Various approaches to the problem of genre identity are characterized briefly. The emphasis is put on polyintentionality of the communication unit, complexity and multidimensionality of its genre form. Considering M. M. Bakhtin’s ideas, illocution is described as normative (for a subject) initial direction of the speech design development. According to authors’ hypothesis, regular actualization of the set of illocutive elements (A.