1. A method for time aligning a first speech pattern with a second speech pattern comprising the steps of: generating a time frame sequence of signals representative of the acoustic features of the first speech pattern, generating a time frame sequence of signals representative of the acoustic features of the second speech pattern, and pairing each first speech pattern time frame with one of the second speech pattern time frames responsive to the first speech pattern feature signals and the second speech pattern feature signals, the time frame pairing comprising; generating a series of signals representative of the succession of first speech pattern time frames, responsive to each successive first speech pattern time frame signal, performing the steps of, generating a set of signals corresponding to second speech pattern candidate time frames for the current first speech pattern time frame, generating a set of signals representative of the correspondence between the acoustic feature signals of the current first speech pattern time frame and the acoustic feature signals of the second speech pattern candidate time frames, generating a signal for each second speech pattern candidate time frame and the current first speech pattern time frame predictive of the similarity of the first and second speech patterns along a path including the second speech pattern candidate time frame and current first speech pattern time frame responsive to the correspondence signals of the preceding and current first speech pattern time frames, and selecting one of the second speech pattern candidate time frames for the current first speech pattern time frame pair responsive to the predictor signals of the current first speech pattern time frame.