A computer-implemented parser for parsing a linguistic input, the parser comprising: a lexicon; and a tokenizing module in operative communication with the lexicon, the tokenizing module dividing the linguistic input into an ordered sequence of linguistic tokens; the parser characterised by: a character pattern recognition component for attempting matching of an ordered sequence of characters with a character pattern; a token pattern recognition component for attempting matching of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with a syntactical pattern, wherein the token pattern recognition component applies a context free grammar to the linguistic tokens according to first token pattern recognition rules, the token pattern recognition component further invoking the character pattern recognition component to attempt matching of an ambiguous portion of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with an indeterminate portion of the syntactical pattern according to second token pattern recognition rules, each second token pattern recognition rule incorporating at least one character pattern recognition rule; and a category associator for associating a constituent category with at least one of: (i) the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, (ii) an ordered sub sequence of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, and (iii) a selected token of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, the associating being performed responsive to a successful matching performed by the token pattern recognition component. a lexicon; and a tokenizing module in operative communication with the lexicon, the tokenizing module dividing the linguistic input into an ordered sequence of linguistic tokens; the parser characterised by: a character pattern recognition component for attempting matching of an ordered sequence of characters with a character pattern; a token pattern recognition component for attempting matching of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with a syntactical pattern, wherein the token pattern recognition component applies a context free grammar to the linguistic tokens according to first token pattern recognition rules, the token pattern recognition component further invoking the character pattern recognition component to attempt matching of an ambiguous portion of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with an indeterminate portion of the syntactical pattern according to second token pattern recognition rules, each second token pattern recognition rule incorporating at least one character pattern recognition rule; and a category associator for associating a constituent category with at least one of: (i) the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, (ii) an ordered sub sequence of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, and (iii) a selected token of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, the associating being performed responsive to a successful matching performed by the token pattern recognition component. a character pattern recognition component for attempting matching of an ordered sequence of characters with a character pattern; a token pattern recognition component for attempting matching of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with a syntactical pattern, wherein the token pattern recognition component applies a context free grammar to the linguistic tokens according to first token pattern recognition rules, the token pattern recognition component further invoking the character pattern recognition component to attempt matching of an ambiguous portion of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens with an indeterminate portion of the syntactical pattern according to second token pattern recognition rules, each second token pattern recognition rule incorporating at least one character pattern recognition rule; and a category associator for associating a constituent category with at least one of: (i) the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, (ii) an ordered sub sequence of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, and (iii) a selected token of the ordered sequence of linguistic tokens, the associating being performed responsive to a successful matching performed by the token pattern recognition component.