ABSTRACT
The convention in many dictionaries is that commas separate alternative indications o f the same meaning, and that semicolons separate distinct meanings associated with identical written forms belonging to the same syntactic category. The issues connected with such distinctions are not going to be discussed; they are clearly relevant to the storage and deployment o f information related to written words, but they have no direct bearing on the questions concerning the syntax and semantics o f natural language or the language o f thought.
