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The literature on Nakh-Dagestanian languages often highlights the argument realization pattern found in contact event descriptions. In these languages, the instrument is expressed as the verb’s object, and the surface contacted is expressed as a dative or locative DP. This pattern is the reverse of the default pattern found in English, where the surface is the direct object and the instrument is expressed in a with phrase. In order to promote further investigations into this property of Nakh-Dagestanian languages, this paper places this pattern in a larger cross-linguistic context. There are other languages that do not express the surface as an object in their contact event descriptions, with some also showing the argument realization reversal. Further, in these languages the non-object expression of the surface correlates with other typological properties, including the expression of manner outside the verb, smaller manner verb inventories, and verb-framed directed motion event descriptions. Based on the limited data available, this paper suggests that Nakh-Dagestanian languages might share these properties as well.