8. The method of claim 5, wherein said identification step further comprises the steps of: verifying whether said new topic associated with said word string beginning with said onset point is in said battery; if said new topic is not in said battery, switching to said neutral topic; otherwise, determining whether a second comparative topic metric is greater than said second threshold ratio for a topic in said battery other than said current topic; if said determination is YES, declaring said topic to be the new topic; if said determination is NO, adding a word to said word string and repeating said identification step.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein said identification step further comprises the steps of: verifying whether said new topic associated with said word string beginning with said onset point is in said battery; if said new topic is not in said battery, switching to said neutral topic; otherwise, determining whether a second comparative topic metric is greater than said second threshold ratio for a topic in said battery other than said current topic; if said determination is YES, declaring said topic to be the new topic; if said determination is NO, adding a word to said word string and repeating said identification step. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said verifying step further comprises the steps of: computing for said word string and for every topic in said battery ##EQU16## where T.sub.j is the j-th topic in said battery, where k is the number of words in said word string, where said current word is m+1 (at i=0), where said prior word is m-k+2 (at i=k-1), where P.sup.T.sbsp.j.sup.).sub.m-i+1 is said likelihood measure for the single word located i words prior to said current word, and where ##EQU17## determining whether S.sub.(j) is greater than said first threshold ratio for every topic j in said battery.