bibl — used mainly in the Bible
law — legal term—used in contracts, courts of law
lit - used mainly in literature
med - medical term used by doctors, nurses etc.
naut - nautical term - used by sailors
poet - used mainly in poetry
tech — technical term - used by specialists in various fields
As we can see the labels of this group include common literary vocabulary (terms) & special literal vocabulary (Poetical words).
3. Labels showing situations in which words are used, denoting words which would only be suitable in certain types of situation. infml fml sl.
These labels deal with common literary vocabulary & common colloquial vocabulary, & with a particular group of words which is considered to be slang & which is difficult to juxtapose with any layer of the English Language because of the uncertain definition of the term slang, LDELC suggests the following definition:
SLANG - very informal, rarely used in writing, used especially in the private language of particular social groups.
Though we may consider slang as a layer of nonstandard (special colloquial vocabulary - non-literary) close to jargonisms & vulgarisms, professionalisms. Judging by Galperin's point of view this type is typical more of the English Language.
4. Labels showing time, denoting words which are no longer used in modem English (though they will be found in old books) & some of the words beginning to be used less often.
old-fash - no longer common, used mainly by older people
old use — no longer u sed
rare or becoming rare — rarely used, or beginning to be used less often. This group of labels serve special literary vocabulary (mainly archaic)
Labels showing attitude
apprec. - shows that the speaker likes or approves of something
derog — derogatory — shows that the speaker dislikes or disapproves of something
euph - euphemistic - a polite or indirect word for something unpleasant or embarrassing
humor — shows a joking or ironic attitude
pomp - shows a foolishy self-important attitude
These labels mainly serve to identify positive or negative connotation of the word, that is why we may suppose that all these labels can be found both in common literary & common colloquial vocabularies, as well as in the group of nonstandard words.
Labels showing limitations on use
dial — a word belonging to the local speech of a particular area
nonstandard — a word regarded as incorrect by most educated speakers
taboo — a very offensive word which should always be avoided
tdmk - a trademark, whose use is officially controlled
These labels serve mainly special colloquial vocabulary the label nonstandard differs from the notion that the layer nonstandard has, because both dial and taboo belong to nonstandard, though from the other hand, from the educated point of view of the words with labels taboo & dial. may be regarded as incorrect. The label tdmk may be treated as a special term & thus may belong to common literary vocabulary. As the analyses shows the classification of the labels accepted in this dictionary is not exact and needs more consideration, though the labels themselves are quite suitable to show stytistical characterization & stylistical overtones.The variety of labels used in LDELC we shall consider farther in the third part.
OALED suggests a bit different grouping of the stylistic notations (Appendix II)
1. Currency, labels denoting words which are not used or used by some older speaker s & some words that are found mainly in books written in the first half of thi s century: dated archaic.
Region, labels denoting words which restricted to one country or area
Brit US Scot S.African Austr NZ
Here belongs dial - the label that refers to words & meanings that are restricted to particular regions of the British Isles not including Scotland & Ireland. So this very dictionary uses the label dial mainly as territorial characteristic of British Isles, though still belonging to special colloquial vocabulary.
Register, labels denoting words which must be used with particular care because they reflect a special relatioship between the speakers or a special occasion or setting (which could vary from an official ceremony to a relaxed meeting between friends)
! - denotes words or meanings likely to be thought offencive or shocking or indecert. (though not necessarily by eveyone or on every occasion)