Where to Find the Portuguese Non-preferred Form Aonde (Where/Where to)

Abstract

What are the issues underlying the use of aonde versus onde in Portuguese (both translated by where), a favourite target for prescription-oriented philologists? In this paper, we investigate this question by (1) performing an overview of the reference literature; (2) creating a set of hypotheses about the proper use of aonde; (3) trying to check them in corpora. In addition to giving some insight in the question, the paper illustrates the possibilities (and shortcomings) of corpora studies.