If your default style resource dictionary has entries like this...
<!--A Style that affects all TextBlocks-->
<Style TargetType="TextBlock">
<Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Center" />
<Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="Comic Sans MS"/>
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="14"/>
</Style>
...then you can implement something like this...
<!--A Style that extends the previous TextBlock Style-->
<!--This is a "named style" with an x:Key of TitleText-->
<Style BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type TextBlock}}"
TargetType="TextBlock"
x:Key="TitleText">
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="26"/>
<Setter Property="Foreground">
<Setter.Value>
<LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0.5,0" EndPoint="0.5,1">
<LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops>
<GradientStop Offset="0.0" Color="#90DDDD" />
<GradientStop Offset="1.0" Color="#5BFFFF" />
</LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
This approach will give the inheritance effect that you are after.
The MSDN reference is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.style.basedon(v=vs.110).aspx