Part of the reason that this idea of agency of matter being a break from Western tradition is that is harks back Indigenous linguistic practices - more specifically of indigenous people like the Ojibwe. In Anishinabemowin (or Ojibwemowin), the language of the Ojibwe people, nouns are sorted by whether or not they are viewed as animate. In this case, animate takes on a much broader meaning to include any nouns that is thought about as able to hold spirit regardless of whether it would be traditionally considered an animal or animate. This animacy is similar to how many romance language sort feminine and masculine nouns and this animate vs. inanimate distinction determines how which verbs are used around that noun and how those verbs are conjugated.