  Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is an active field of research due to its
large number of applications and the proliferation of interfaces or computing
devices that can support speech processing. However, the bulk of applications
are based on well-resourced languages that overshadow under-resourced ones.
Yet, ASR represents an undeniable means to promote such languages, especially
when designing human-to-human or human-to-machine systems involving illiterate
people. An approach to design an ASR system targeting under-resourced languages
is to start with a limited vocabulary. ASR using a limited vocabulary is a
subset of the speech recognition problem that focuses on the recognition of a
small number of words or sentences. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive
view of mechanisms behind ASR systems as well as techniques, tools, projects,
recent contributions, and possible future directions in ASR using a limited
vocabulary. This work consequently provides a way forward when designing an ASR
system using limited vocabulary. Although an emphasis is put on limited
vocabulary, most of the tools and techniques reported in this survey can be
applied to ASR systems in general.
