This project is focused on a comparative linguistic analysis of variation and idiosyncrasy in Germanic and Romance. The workshop will be focused on varieties of Bavarian and Brazilian Portuguese but applications are welcome from students/researchers looking at the topic of variation in any varieties of 
Romance and/or Germanic, as well as researchers with an interest in variation within the individual. Despite  the  obvious  differences  between  Bavarian  and  Brazilian  Portuguese,  relating  to  linguistic typology, number of speakers and status as an official language with an established written tradition, 
recent  research  has  revealed  a  particular  linguistic  similarity:  the  prevalence  of  what  seems  to  be idiosyncratic individual variation within and across speakers which is not consistently identifiable with any social meaning.

Specific aims of workshops: 

•  make young researchers aware of more recent trends in theoretical and empirical linguistics which are questioning long-held assumptions 
• highlight  how  data  from  Bavarian  and  Brazilian  Portuguese  can  be  extremely  relevant  to important international debates in linguistics      
• introduce researchers to advanced quantitative techniques and variationist methods and thus equip young scholars with the analytical tools necessary to engage critically with non-canonical data and to contribute meaningfully to ongoing theoretical discussions in linguistics 
• establish  links  for  future  cooperation  between  Universities  in  Bavaria  and  Brazil  by foregrounding the similarities that exist in the seemingly typologically different data 
• highlight the potential benefits and impact of collaborative research across diverse linguistic 
• contexts  to  broaden  theoretical,  empirical,  and  methodological  perspectives,  and  contribute  to rethinking foundational models in linguistics. 

Dates and locations. 
•  First Workshop: Munich, Bavaria, Germany. July 21st- 23rd 2026  
•  Second Workshop: Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil. 6th-9th April 2027.  
 
Language of workshop: English 
 
Funding body: Bavarian Academic Center for Latin America (BAYLAT) in cooperation with the São Paulo Research 
Foundation (FAPESP) 
 
Available funding: Travel and accommodation expenses for doctoral students and early-career researchers (see eligibility 
criteria) from higher education institutions in Bavaria to attend both workshops.  
 
Eligibility Criteria: All applicants must be affiliated with an institution of higher education in the Free State of Bavaria. 
 
Early-career  researchers  must  have  been  awarded  their  PhD under10  years  from  the  date  of  first 
workshop, that is after 21/07/2016. Doctoral Students must EITHER already have submitted their doctoral dissertations by the date of the 
first workshop (July 2026) OR be near to completion of their dissertation by this date and plan to submit 
their  dissertation  within  twelve  months  of  this  date.  These  participants  must  submit  official 
confirmation  from  their  university  or  supervisor  stating  that  they  are  in  the  final  stages  of  their 
dissertation.  
 
Submission guidelines: 
 
Prospective candidates should send  
•  a motivation letter detailing why they would like to participate in the workshops and how the 
topic of the workshops is related to their research. The text of the motivation letter should be 
no more than one page long, excluding references. The text should be written in Times New 
Roman, size 11, and be single-spaced. Title of document = surname_motivation letter 
•  a curriculum vitae. Title of document = surname_cv  
•  a  short  document  highlighting  how  they  fulfil  the  eligibility  criteria.  Title  of  document  = 
surname_eligibility.  
 
Submissions should be sent electronically to sekretariat.buelow@germanistik.uni-muenchen.de   
 
Submission deadline: 10pm April 30th 2026.