Comparing contextual shifts in partial/total predication and plural non-maximality

Abstract

We investigate a potential analogy between the varying quantificational strength of partial/total predicates and plural predication. Using the predicates 'wet' and 'dry' as a casestudy, we ask whether partial/total adjectives show a property characteristic of plurals, namely homogeneity effects. As far as part quantification is concerned, these predicates do exhibit homogeneity. But for degree quantification, a new contrast emerges between partial and total predicates: only partial predicates show homogeneity.