Style Signals

   There are many styles of writing, ranging from formal and stiff, academic and arch, to arrogant to informal and clumsy. And as with speech patterns, some are more acceptable to listeners and to readers than others.
   But to condemn a style, pattern or dialect is to dismiss it as useless. The reality, however, is that every style, pattern or dialect has a use, and is recognized and valued by those who use it. Unless, of course, it is incomprehensible, but even here it serves a purpose -- to keep the communication privy only to members of a certain group. Academics particularly fit this mold.
   Meanwhile, those who do not recognize the use of a speech or writing style or cannot understand it when others use it is like hearing or attempting to read another language. To dismiss as valueless a dialect or style which you do not understand is a form of provincialism, and borders on arrogance.
   Even so, there is value in adhering to a standard in speech or writing. For one thing, it facilitates communication, and every writer's goal is to communicate. When readers do not understand what you write, the failure is not theirs, it is yours.