The Salzburg Comparative Syntax Workshop, organized by Magdalena Lohninger together with Caroline Gardner, Franziska Keller, and Anita Riedl, took place from May 21–23, 2026 at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Salzburg and brought together 50 participants. The program included two panel discussions—by Mark Baker (Comparing What? The Layers of Comparative Syntax) and Doreen Georgi (Unifying everything? On the importance of recognizing Hidden Variability)—with commentary from Jonathan Bobaljik, Jutta Hartmann, and Filipe Hisao Kobayashi, alongside a keynote lecture by Laura Kalin (Decomposing vowel melodies: The morphology and syntax of root-and-pattern systems). From the 51 submitted abstracts, 15 talks and 10 posters were selected (four of which were later cancelled), including eight contributions (co-)authored by students. A mentoring session pairing senior and junior researchers complemented the academic program, and additional measures to support early-career scholars included student travel grants, reduced registration fees for students, and free attendance for members of the University of Salzburg.
Participants highlighted the workshop’s productive and collegial atmosphere, the high quality of the presentations, and the stimulating, thought-provoking panel discussions. One concrete outcome of the workshop was the establishment of a Comparative Syntax (CoS) board, consisting of Jutta Hartmann, Jens Hopperdietzel, and Magdalena Lohninger, which will oversee the development of the Comparative Syntax series as an annual event.