SYSTEM AND METHOD OF WORD LATTICE AUGMENTATION USING A PRE/POST VOCALIC CONSONANT DISTINCTION

Systems and methods are provided for recognizing speech in a spoken dialogue system. The method includes receiving input speech having a pre-vocalic consonant or a post-vocalic consonant, generating at least one output lattice that calculates a first score by comparing the input speech to a training model to provide a result and distinguishing between the pre-vocalic consonant and the post-vocalic consonant in the input speech. A second score is calculated by measuring a similarity between the pre-vocalic consonant or the post vocalic consonant in the input speech and the first score. At least one category is determined for the pre-vocalic match or mismatch or the post-vocalic match or mismatch by using the second score and the results of the an automated speech recognition (ASR) system are refined by using the at least one category for the pre-vocalic match or mismatch or the post-vocalic match or mismatch.