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A comma separating adjectives is understood as AND. What does a comma mean when it separates noun phrases?

Flow is a state of mind, a level of concentration in which outside stimuli seem to fall away. From

I don't think we can use AND here instead of the comma. I understood the sentence as:

Flow is a state of mind or more precisely a level of concentration ...

It implies the comma means OR.

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It forms lists.

a cat, a dog, a mouse.

Normally one would use a conjunction, typically between the last two elements of the list, but if not, the relationship between the items of the list must be understood by context.

In your example, there are just two items in the list and "or more precisely" could be understood as the conjunctive phrase linking them, from the context. But "and" also works; flow is both a state of mind and a level of concentration...

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  • If it was a list, should all items be equal? a level of concentration, I think, is a subset of a state of mind, which means they describe the first noun phrase more precisely after the comma.
    – South Indian ɪŋɡlɪʃɪfaɪd
    Commented Oct 14, 2023 at 6:50
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    Not necessarily, you would have to understand the precise relation from the context. For example by asking if one item is a subset of another.
    – James K
    Commented Oct 14, 2023 at 6:53

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