Language features of Russian official texts from the point of view of explanatory linguistics

The article shows that when describing the functional styles of the Russian language, it is advisable not only to list the linguistic means specific to each of the styles, but also to explain the reasons for their use. On the example of official style a causal link between the orientation of this style toward accuracy which does not permit any other interpretation and the main linguistic features of this style is demonstrated. Thus, the use of verbal-nominal predicates, characteristic of official texts, can be explained by the fact that verbal nouns, in contrast to verbs, usually are terms; the prevalence of simple sentences over compound sentences is due to the fact that the content of simple, polypositive sentences, unlike the content of compound sentences, is free of details, unnecessary for the official texts, and the reason for the significant size of sentences is that the design of any message in the form of a single sentence carries information about the semantic integrity of this message and about the impossibility of an isolated perception of the meaning of any of its parts.