MIDA TEEVAD MÕTTED, KUI NAD MÕLGUVAD?
What are your thoughts doing while mõlk’ing?

Summary/Abstract: This paper tackles the semantic development of the Estonian verb mõlkuma, which is unique because it designates the periodic nature of thought processes. The paper takes the viewpoint of cognitive semantics and the embodiment hypothesis, which predicts that the highly abstract concepts of human mental activity are historically rooted in more concrete and embodied concepts. Based on analysis of both synchronic and diachronic data, it is concluded that, in this particular case, two main bodily-related source domains – physical motion and perception – play a role. The motion is considered to be of the non-translocational kind, which is motivated by the preconceptual image-schema of cycle, rather than of the translocational kind that makes use of the path image schema. With regard to the domain of perception, the analysis reveals connections to both visual and auditory subdomains in which the preconceptual image-schema of cycle again functions as the experiential basis for conceptualizing the periodic and recurrent nature of perceptions. In addition, the study found that what contributes to the contemporary meaning of ’periodic thought processes’ is not only its semantic core – the image-schema of cycle and its gradual shifts to the other domains – but also respective syntactic changes. The conceptual metaphor ideas are independent entities is probably a key here, as it enables thoughts and other mental representations to be used in the position of a clausal subject, which reveals their partial independence from their human ’owner’. The construction in which the verb mõlkuma currently appears contains an obligatory locative modifier that refers to the mental container (mind, head), while the owner (of both the container and the ideas) is left to carry the syntactic role of non-obligatory possessive modifier. The entire process is depicted as taking place in the owner’s mental container for a long time, as a recurrent cycle, regardless of the owner’s will. The paper argues that what appears as a synchronic mental leap between domains might actually present itself as a chain or even a network of changes if the historical data are taken into account. The analysis reveals several possible etymological origins and parallel routes to the contemporary meaning. Apart from the possibility that the verb has an Estonian imitative root, it could also be a Russian loan word, мелькать, which means ’twinkle’, or a prehistoric relict that shares the same root as Indo-European words designating ’milk’ and ’milking’. Another possibility is the Proto-Baltic root * malfik-a- ’a gulp’. However, the actual etymology of this word remains to be discovered by future research.

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