It is more normal to say “Patsy was hit on the head by a ball” than “A ball hit Patsy on the head”
=> The ‘animate first preference’ is not due to any obvious linguistic factor, but the human mind-set plays an important role.
The ‘animate first’ preference is linked to an ‘actor first’ principle, because in real life animates act on lifeless things more often than the other way round.
The preferences are based on pre-linguistic mind-sets, which explain why so many languages show similarities.
