Evaluative linguistic expressions vs. fuzzy categories

In this paper, we discuss the distinction between categories characterized by verbal labels taken from a fuzzy rating scale and special class of linguistic expressions, called evaluative. The latter form a general class of expressions that includes gradable and evaluative adjectives and their hedges. First, we will provide a brief linguistic analysis of them. Then we outline basic principles for construction of the mathematical model of semantics of evaluative expressions. In Section 3 we will analyze the concepts of rating scale with verbal labels (fuzzy rating scale), their semantics and demonstrate that the latter cannot be identified with the semantics of evaluative expressions. Finally, we suggest a method for construction of fuzzy rating scales on the basis of evaluative linguistic expressions. The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate the power of fuzzy set theory and to show that it is capable of providing tools for advanced modeling of linguistic semantics.