When we verb a noun: Processing and understanding denominal verbs through pragmatic inferences

Polysemous words are words that have multiple related senses. They can be cross-categorial, that is, the related senses occur across word categories, such as noun and verb. (1) uses the noun balloon as a verb: (1) Every birthday, we hang lights in the trees and balloon the front gate. The meaning of such unconventional uses requires a pragmatic inference. Other types of pragmatic inferences have been associated with linguistic knowledge and cognitive skills, but little is known about the processing of unconventional denominal verbs. We set out to investigate whether processing and understanding denominal verbs requires some type of cognitive or linguistic experience or skills.