PARLAMENDISUHTLUS VÕRDLUSES KLIENDISUHTLUSEGA: KÜSIMUSED JA VASTUSED
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN A PARLIAMENT AS COMPARED WITH A TRAVEL AGENCY

Summary/Abstract: The paper compares and analyzes questions asked and answered in the Parliament of Estonia when discussing a bill with those asked and answered in a travel agency when planning a trip. The aim of the study is to discover similarities and differences between the two kinds of dialogues. The empirical material includes verbatim records of three sittings in the Parliament and transcripts of four recordings in a travel agency. Dialogue acts are annotated in the texts by using two typologies – the ISO standard and a special annotation typology developed at the University of Tartu. In the Parliament, questions can be asked by MPs after every report of the representatives of the government. In a travel agency, the dialogue participants are a customer who asks questions about a trip and the agent who answers; the participants do not change during a dialogue. The paper concentrates on the form and functions of the questions and answers. The analysis demonstrates that in both kinds of dialogues, questions are asked mainly for getting information but in some cases also to confirm the presumptions. In the Parliament, both questions and answers are typically verbose, which is not the case in the travel agency.

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