Language is for the most part sequential because, in a nutshell, we only have one mouth. (Sign language gets around this a bit, as do speakers of language, with changes in tone, facial expressions, gestures and so on.)
I've put together some of the basics for a platform for work in NLP. If anyone would like to collaborate on this as a true open-source project, I'd love to hear from you. Admittedly, there are some great packages out there like GATE and LingPipe, really nice guys who know their stuff and -- your NL Pundit loves nothing so much as this -- are upfront about the limitations as well as the strengths of their software. But I think there are some niches left unfilled for open source NLP. If you agree, drop me a line and maybe we can get a ball rolling.
