Rethinking the reach of categorical constraints: The final-over-final constraint and combinatorial variability

This squib argues that categorical rules and constraints of the sort traditionally
found in generative syntax can, in principle, make interesting and testable
quantitative predictions about surface frequencies in language use, despite occasional
claims to the contrary. Specifically, the final-over-final constraint (FOFC, Biberauer
et al. 2014; 2009; Holmberg 2000; Walkden 2009; many others) is predicted to exert
a specific influence on the likelihood of OV vs. VO word order in the language use
of a speaker that allows both, given a combinatorial variability approach to
intra-speaker syntactic variation (Adger 2006 et seq.).