The Utility of Hedged Assertions in the Emergence of Shared Categorical Labels

We investigate the emergence of shared concepts in a community of language users using a multi-agent simulation. We extend results showing that negated assertions are of use in devel- oping shared categories, to include assertions modified by linguistic hedges. Results show that using hedged assertions positively affects the emergence of shared categories in two distinct ways. Firstly, us- ing contraction hedges like ‘very’ gives better convergence over time. Secondly, using expansion hedges such as ‘quite’ reduces concept overlap. However, both these improvements come at a cost of slower speed of development.