ABSTRACT This text aims to reflect on why speech genres are relevant to variation studies, especially for third wave studies, whose central issue is the notion of style. Through bibliographic research, we examine part of the literature of the third wave of variation studies and part of the literature of the Bakhtinian approach, focusing on the notion of style, to (i) highlight some connections between these approaches and to (ii) articulate them, in some other points. The results of this reflection (...) indicate that speech genres are relevant to the interests of third wave studies because (i) linguistic style is a property of speech genres, upgradeable due to the aesthetic finalizations they receive; and (ii) an understanding of style requires an understanding of the (social and formal) constitution of the genres, in which categories of analysis that are of interest to the third wave of variation studies are indicated. (shrink)