2. A method for recognizing a series of words as one of a set of predetermined sequences of prescribed words according to claim 1 further comprising storing the initial state and prescribed word of each word position sequence state transition signal addressed by the state transition signal terminal state; and wherein said sequence identifying step comprises identifying the final state of the selected sequence having the minimum last word position cumulative correspondence signal; and forming a signal representative of the identified sequence from said stored prescribed words responsive to the identified sequence final state and the stored initial states.
3. A method for recognizing a series of words as one of a set of predetermined sequences of prescribed words according to claim 2 wherein said series of words is a series of spoken words, and said correspondence signal generation comprises generating a set of signals for each word position representative of the acoustic similarity between the spoken word of said word position and the prescribed words.