This paper discusses a dialog system, using a speech terminal connected to a computer. The dialog application provides the user with a "pseudo-natural" query language, to retrieve informations about historical facts, via connected speech requests. The vocabulary and syntax have been designed so as to be both efficient for good speech recognition, and natural enough for the speaker.

From a technical standpoint, an interface is provided to PASCAL application programs, that allows them to receive sequences of recognized words, and send answers to the synthesizer. This interface is used in a PROLOG interpreter, which supports knowledge about historical facts, and enables the computer to answers requests in a rather "intelligent" way.