The accusative/dative alternation in Catalan verbs with experiencer object

Various Catalan psychological verbs that are part of causative sentences with an accusative experiencer (Els nens van molestar la Maria or La van molestar ‘The kids annoyed Maria’ or ‘They annoyed her’) alternate with stative sentences that change the sentence order and have a dative experiencer (A la Maria li molesta el teu caràcter ‘lit. To Maria your character is annoying’). Other psychological verbs, however, can form both types of sentence without changing the accusative morphology of the experiencer (Els nens van atabalar la Maria or La van atabalar ‘The kids overwhelmed Maria or They overwhelmed her’; A la Maria l’atabala el teu caràcter ‘lit. To Maria your character is overwhelming’). I argue that in stative sentences of all these verbs the experiencer is a real dative, regardless of its morphology (dative or accusative). Differential indirect object marking (DIOM) explains why accusative morphology is possible in these constructions