Different explanations in grammar are mutually compatible: Structural, evolutionary and biocognitive

Linguists often act as if they had to choose between different approaches or frameworks or research communities, and sometimes these choices appear as “commitments” or firm beliefs. In particular, structuralists, functionalists and generativists have often regarded each other’s work as if the approaches were competitors rather than potentially complementary. Here I note that they can be complementary and that there is no reason for ideological divisions in the field of linguistics. However, it is important to keep structural analyses distinct from biocognitive explanations, as these have often been conflated