In clause 14.3.8 Lists,
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/rendering.html#lists
there are rules like 

dir dl {  list-style-type: circle; }

This is pointless because list-style-type does not affect a dl element or its children, and for any inner list that might be affected, there is a rule that applies to the inner list, so inheritance does not apply.

So this would have an effect only if invalid markup, with li as a child of dl, were used or (rather abnormally) display: list-item were set on the dl or its child.