Object Relations and Dative Case in Dolakha Newari

In Dolakha Newari, the dative case marks recipients of ditransitive verbs and some patients of monotransitive verbs. Quantative studies show that animacy and activation cost are both relevant in determining the distribution of dative case. Two theories on the syntactic status of objects in systems of this general type are shown to be inadequate for Dolakha. Instead it is found that there is no morphological or syntactic evidence for differentiating between classes of object in this language. Theories on the motivation of this pattern are considered, and it is concluded that it is best understood in terms of referent importance or topicworthiness.