Using the Instructive Case....

[Rob A.]

I've been thinking a bit how to use some of these so-called marginal cases...instructive, comitative, abessive...

The instructive case seems to be described as a type of adverbial case.....it is always in the plural, never takes a possessive ending, and is always construed in favour of the subject of the sentence..... However it seems to get more complicated than that.... If the verb is behaving as a noun.... a nominalized verb.... then we are into the realm of "second infinitives"... Apparently the second infinitive declines only in the inessive and instructive cases.... the final "a/ä " of the basic verb form changes to "e" and the case ending is added.....

...which leads to my question. These two sentences are examples of second infinitive nominalized verbs...

Juoksin laulaen.
Juoksin laulaessa.
Juoksin laulaessani....

Is there any material difference between the statements? I would translate the first two as: "I ran while singing," and the third, "I ran while I was singing." Is there a preferred way of saying this.... Or is it a matter of "six of one and half a dozen of another."....

[Jukka Aho]

...which leads to my question. These two sentences are examples of second infinitive nominalized verbs...

Juoksin laulaen.
Juoksin laulaessa.
Juoksin laulaessani....

Is there any material difference between the statements? I would translate the first two as: "I ran while singing," and the third, "I ran while I was singing." Is there a preferred way of saying this.... Or is it a matter of "six of one and half a dozen of another."....:D

Juoksin laulaen. — “I ran singing.” / “I ran using a (running) style which also involved me singing, simultaneously.” (Compare to “Juoksin hyppelehtien.” where the secondary verb more clearly characterizes the primary action. It does not need to but that’s how you can use this expression if need be and if you aim for something more than the simple “while singing” interpretation.)

Juoksin laulaessa. — This one sounds incomplete. You ran... but who was singing? Maybe you’d say “Juoksin lintujen laulaessa.” or “Juoksin kohti suojaa konekiväärin papattaessa ja luotien viuhuessa pääni ympärillä.”

Juoksin laulaessani. — “I ran while (I was) singing.” / “During the time I was singing, I was also running.”

[David O.]

To add on to what Jukka said: the second infinitive instructive is an adverbial of manner, not an adverbial of time. It's understood that the actions are happening simultaneously, but that's not the focus of the expression... the focus is on how or in what state the subject performed the action of the main clause.

The second infinitive inessive is a time expression meaning roughly "while doing X", which pairs logically with another structure meaning "after doing X/having done X".

Aamiaista syödessäni luin lehteä. While eating breakfast, I read the paper.
Aamiaisen syötyäni lähdin töihin. After eating breakfast, I went to work. (Note the structure: past passive participle partitive + personal ending).

Or I can make a clumsy attempt to get all three of these structures together in one little story: Lapsi tuli koulusta itkien kotiin. Itkiessään hän vannoi kostoa kiusaajilleen. Mutta muutaman tunnin itkettyään hän ymmärsi, että kostaminen vain pahentaisi asiaa.

[Rob A.]

To add on to what Jukka said: the second infinitive instructive is an adverbial of manner, not an adverbial of time. It's understood that the actions are happening simultaneously, but that's not the focus of the expression... the focus is on how or in what state the subject performed the action of the main clause.

The second infinitive inessive is a time expression meaning roughly "while doing X", which pairs logically with another structure meaning "after doing X/having done X".

Aamiaista syödessäni luin lehteä. While eating breakfast, I read the paper.
Aamiaisen syötyäni lähdin töihin. After eating breakfast, I went to work. (Note the structure: past passive participle partitive + personal ending).

Or I can make a clumsy attempt to get all three of these structures together in one little story: Lapsi tuli koulusta itkien kotiin. Itkiessään hän vannoi kostoa kiusaajilleen. Mutta muutaman tunnin itkettyään hän ymmärsi, että kostaminen vain pahentaisi asiaa.

Thanks David...I'm "digesting" this....that looks like a useful distinction....adverbial of manner v. adverbial of time... The type of "running" in my example is the type of running you do while singing....

[AldenG]

And Rob, it may help you to create an association between miten and forms like laulaen.

As it happens, they're not technically the same case, supposedly, but they act as though they were.

You can even turn it into Q&A:

Miten? Laulaen. Tyttö pyörähteli laulaen huoneesta.
Miten? Kiroillen. Mies poistui kiroillen paikalta.
Miten? Haukkuen. Koira juoksi haukkuen vastaan.

[orbik]

Juoksin laulaen.
Juoksin laulaessa.
Juoksin laulaessani....

As AldenG pointed out, the first sentence answers to "Miten?". On its own I tend to interpret Juoksin laulaen. as "I ran in a singing manner".

"Juoksin laulaen samalla" sounds more natural, meaning "I ran, singing concurrently", which I think is effectively same as "Lauloin juostessani" - "I sang while running". Similarly "Juoksin laulaessani" would equal "Lauloin juosten samalla". Thoughts?