Vagueness, signaling and bounded rationality

Abstract

Vagueness is a pervasive feature of natural languages that is challenging semantic theories and theories of language evolution alike. We focus here on the latter, addressing the challenge of how to account for the emergence of vague meanings in signaling game models of language evolution. We suggest that vagueness is a natural property of meaning that evolves when boundedly rational agents repeatedly engage in cooperative signaling. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.