Semantic theory, its relationship to comprehension, the nature and function of semantic memory, and results of some research on semantic memory and bilinguals are discussed through a review of recent literature. The findings discussed seem to confirm these general observations regarding semantic memory and bilinguals: (1) there is integration and storage of semantic information from various modalities in memory; (2) one semantic memory exists in bilinguals with labels from each of the language systems; (3) the preferred processing strategies of early bilinguals for verbal stimuli are analytic and semantic; (4) vocabulary items from different languages are closely and automatically connected in semantic memory, and the bilingual can turn off his nonactive language; (5) bilinguals process semantic memory information in the same way in their two languages in the same manner as monolinguals; and (6) semantic relationships between words in different languages influence tasks involving secondary memory. Semantic memory in bilinguals remains a challenging research topic, since there is much more to learn. (MSE)