The general language-operated decision implementation system (GLODIS) represents a flexible, operating-system approach to the generation and implementation of complex rules for decision making in pattern recognition. GLODIS is briefly described from a general mathematical and philosophical point of view; a current implementation is described in the context of a phonemic-level segmenter for continuous speech. This segmenter is presented in sufficient detail for duplication by others, not only for speech segmentation but also for alternate applications of a similar nature. Performance data are given for a large amount (

min) of continuous speech, for a currently running version of the speech segmentation GLODIS. Recent results from a total continuous speech recognition system, which incorporates the above, are also given.