diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4082dc451f..872fd366b8 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 
 ## Bug fixes
 
-* `inner_combine_linter()` no longer throws on length-1 calls to `c()` like `c(exp(2))` or `c(log(3))` (#2017, @MichaelChirico). Such usage is discouraged by `unnecessary_concatenation_linter()`, but `inner_combine_linter()` _per se_ does not apply.
-* `condition_message_linter()` ignores usages of extracted calls like `env$stop(paste(a, b))` (#1455, @MichaelChirico).
+* `sprintf_linter()` doesn't error in cases where whitespace in `...` arguments is significant, e.g. `sprintf("%s", if (A) "" else y)`, which won't parse if whitespace is removed (#2131, @MichaelChirico).
 
 ## New and improved features
 
@@ -45,6 +44,8 @@
 * `unreachable_code_linter()`
   + finds unreachable code even in the presence of a comment or semicolon after `return()` or `stop()` (#2127, @MEO265).
   + checks for code inside `if (FALSE)` and other conditional loops with deterministically false conditions (#1428, @ME0265).
+* `inner_combine_linter()` no longer throws on length-1 calls to `c()` like `c(exp(2))` or `c(log(3))` (#2017, @MichaelChirico). Such usage is discouraged by `unnecessary_concatenation_linter()`, but `inner_combine_linter()` _per se_ does not apply.
+* `condition_message_linter()` ignores usages of extracted calls like `env$stop(paste(a, b))` (#1455, @MichaelChirico).
 
 ### New linters
 
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 4741b16624..505eeed59a 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ get_r_string <- function(s, xpath = NULL) {
 #' @noRd
 xml2lang <- function(x) {
   x_strip_comments <- xml_find_all(x, ".//*[not(self::COMMENT or self::expr)]")
-  str2lang(paste(xml_text(x_strip_comments), collapse = ""))
+  str2lang(paste(xml_text(x_strip_comments), collapse = " "))
 }
 
 is_linter <- function(x) inherits(x, "linter")
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-sprintf_linter.R b/tests/testthat/test-sprintf_linter.R
index d1921018dd..3e9b9c4cd1 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-sprintf_linter.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-sprintf_linter.R
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ test_that("edge cases are detected correctly", {
     list(message = rex::rex("reference to non-existent argument 3")),
     linter
   )
+
+  # #2131: xml2lang stripped necessary whitespace
+  expect_lint("sprintf('%s', if (A) '' else y)", NULL, linter)
 })
 
 local({