A method and system are disclosed that automatically segment speech to generate a speech inventory. The method includes initializing a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) using seed input data, performing a segmentation of the HMM into speech units to generate phone labels, correcting the segmentation of the speech units. Correcting the segmentation of the speech units includes re-estimating the HMM based on a current version of the phone labels, embedded re-estimating of the HMM, and updating the current version of the phone labels using spectral boundary correction. The system includes modules configured to control a processor to perform steps of the method.